


Memento Mori

by FesteringSilence, White_Rainbow



Series: Faust AU [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, But Not Everyone, Dark Side Hux, Demon Hux, Demon Kylo, Demon Kylo thinks he can outsmart Hux, Desk Sex, Drama, Emperor Hux, Fanart, Faust AU, Faustian Bargain, Force-Sensitive Hux, Hand Jobs, Heaven / Hell, Hux is Faust, Hux thinks he can outsmart Demon Kylo, Hux's Climb to Emperor, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Jealousy, Kylo wants Kylux more than Hux, Kylux - Freeform, Like Faust dark, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Mind Control, Minor Character Death, Mitaka is Gretchen, Rescue, Sealed in a bloody kiss, Some Fluff, There will be a happy ending for someone, Wedding, Will get Darker, angel mitaka, hitaka, metaphorical description of torture not too bloody or gratuitous, mitaka is so brave, sexy demon Kylo is sexy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-06-05 00:12:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6681676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FesteringSilence/pseuds/FesteringSilence, https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Rainbow/pseuds/White_Rainbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The First Order has won. The Republic and Resistance are destroyed. The newly formed Empire is unopposed. With Kylo Ren dead, Snoke has focused his efforts on ruling the galaxy and edging the ambitious General Hux out of his plans. Supreme Leader Snoke may be powerful, but Hux has a singular vision: To see himself become Emperor, the true leader of Worlds.<br/>In order to obtain his goal, he will have to resort to the one thing he despises most: The Dark Side.<br/>Excerpt: “If turning to some ridiculous superstition meant putting him one step closer to becoming Emperor of Worlds well...he'd willingly sell his soul for it.<br/>One does not need a soul to rule the galaxy.”<br/>This fic is inspired by the German Tragedy "Faust" <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust#Summary_of_the_story">(Story summary)</a> (You may want to read this so you aren't shocked by the Tragedy parts of this fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sealed in Blood

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by the German Tragedy "Faust" [(Story summary)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust#Summary_of_the_story) (You may want to read this so you aren't shocked by the Tragedy parts of this fic)
> 
> This collaborative fic is written by White Rainbow and came from the brilliant idea of an amazing artist, [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/). This fic would not exist without their concept art and vision!

_ _

_Don’t think about the red mist._

General Hux’s boots squelched across the mossy path that wound through the swamps of Dathomir. Hux was no stranger to mist growing up on the rainy planet of Arkanis, but this planet...

He pulled his grey cloak around him tighter, concealing the well-tailored cream jacket and sensible brown pants tucked into his black boots. Though this swamp seemed uninhabited he wasn’t in the habit of taking unnecessary risks by marching around in his general’s uniform.

The mist seemed to coat the entire world in a faint scarlet residue. It collected in pools on the uneven ground. It sank into stone. It clung to the trees and briar.

Hux licked his lips. The air tasted...metallic.

_Stop thinking about the damned mist and focus on why you are here._

“Supreme Leader,” Hux had beseeched days earlier, “the war is not yet won. The outer rim still crawls with pirates and underworld gangs that do not recognize the First Order’s authority. We must crush them now while we have the momentum to do so.”

Snoke had the _audacity_ to wave a gnarled and dismissive hand at the general. “You seek to agitate a plague hornet’s nest of which you have no need. We waste resources and risk unity among these minor threats if we disturb their petty domains. Leave them be. The Republic is gone. The Resistance destroyed. Enjoy the fruits of your labor, general.”

“It's. Not. Enough,” Hux had said, feeling his patience sliding away with every syllable. “If you are _afraid_ of risking newly formed alliances, let me crush them before they have time to-”

He choked on the words. His throat seized. Hux found himself on his knees, head pulsing, stars taking over his vision.

Dimly he heard the graveled voice of Snoke both echoing in the comm room and within his mind. “You do well to remember your place, general. I am still Supreme Leader. I will decide what is best for _my_ galaxy.”

_My galaxy…_

Days later the bruises on Hux’s neck still were tender. He touched them as a reminder of why he was here, letting the anger roll through him like a low rumble of thunder.

General Hux was not accustomed to feeling helpless. These memories of being doubled-over in the comm chamber, gasping for breath as the holovision of Snoke faded away, had changed the way Hux perceived his hold over the galaxy.

The reality was, he had no hold.

However much control he thought he possessed, Snoke had more over him. The decrepit old man was light years away from Hux and yet was still able to Force-choke him effortlessly.

The Force…Hux would always be one step behind without it…

Hux didn't believe in magic, but then he didn't need to; the bruises around his neck proved it existed.

And Supreme Leader Snoke was the Master of this Dark Side...and a bothersome thorn in Hux’s side.

It was clear he needed to be dealt with. If turning to some ridiculous superstition meant putting General Hux one step closer to becoming Emperor of Worlds well...he'd willingly sell his soul for it.

One does not need a soul to rule the galaxy.

Hux pulled out the datacron from inside his deep gray cloak, and flicked it on. The blue glow of the sparse map had a purple tinge in the gloom. The coordinates blinked rapidly at him. He was not far.

His destiny awaited…if there was such a thing…

Hux climbed over decayed logs and fought through thick kudzu vines before stumbling into a clearing that was…quite clear of everything.

Twisted trees loomed like silent sentinels over Hux, only allowing slivers of bloody moonlight into their domain. Why the swamp’s dank air had not touched this place was not readily apparent, save it seemed that even the red mist shied away from this area. Hux walked to the center of the grove where a circular stone slab lay embedded in swampy earth, and the porous stone was surprisingly dry as though rejecting the sour moisture surrounding it.  

 _The stone wants something sweeter than what the swamp can feed it._ Something whispered in his head. It didn’t feel like his own voice.

Hux blamed the shiver down his spine on the cold air and pulled out the datacron again.

He had once mocked his grandfather for absconding with the whereabouts of this ancient cube from the effects of the deceased Count Dooku, just before the rise of the Empire, but now he realized exactly why this had been a family secret passed from father to son and then to grandson. The Night Sisters were not at all pleased that its whereabouts had been revealed. And they were resistant to hand over the archaic digital tome at first. By the time the Flame Troopers were done burning down their supposedly-secret temples and two of their small encampments, however, they were much more compliant.

Hux fit the datacron in the unextraordinary square indent in the center of the stone and it immediately clicked into place. The stone began to vibrate. Hux had barely stepped off the platform before the stone shifted and groaned, grinding against itself until it formed an earthen cone piercing into the earth and prying it open.  And the earth bled black ichor, churning and rising steadily.

Something rose from the center of the forming whirlpool.

Hux went pale.

_It couldn’t be…_

“Ren?”

The black and chrome face was unmistakable, but...no, he was dead. Hux was sure of it. After they had destroyed the last of the Resistance crawling around Starkiller Base, Hux had personally led the team to find Kylo Ren’s whereabouts. Three bodies lay on the snowy ground. Kylo’s was the most pale, a deep pool of blood surrounding his corpse. They had burned his body. They had sent the helmet back to Snoke.

But the helmet was unmistakable.

As it rose the blackened void rose with him, a thick shadowy shroud affixed and raised two meters in the air before suddenly breaking away like torn fabric. As the liquid veil fell away it revealed Ren’s helmet as merely a festive mask, the chrome edges adorned in filigree, the black edges adorned with elegant lace. And it covered the face of a creature unlike any the general had seen before.

Its body was long, pale and solid, sculpted as though out of pure alabaster. It held itself in a regal pose despite only wearing a silken black loincloth fixed with chrome chains. The mask that concealed its face was a mockery of Kylo Ren’s helmet, a masquerade mask attached to a stem shaped as a thin skeletal arm. The shredded moonlight that came through the trees accentuated its pale near-ashen skin, and yet could not penetrate the charred blackened skin coating its clawed hands and feet.

The creature tilted its masked head at Hux and the general noticed that amidst its ebon hair, it possessed a pair of long, smooth horns which glistened in the half-light.

Hux tried to take a step back, his hand guiding towards the blaster strapped to his thigh.

He succeeded only in raising a heel before he was lifted off the ground entirely. Every muscle contracted. His arms were forced backwards, shoulders pushed back, arching his back. He felt a warm sensation wrap around his throat, threatening to squeeze though it merely held it in place, forcing him to stare at the creature as it slowly stalked towards him.

He wanted to struggle. He wanted to curse and spit at the creature. He could do nothing but watch it circle around him. As it did so, Hux saw a row of jagged bone protrude like bloody rosethorns from the creature’s spine and forearms.

“General Hux.” Its voice hauntingly familiar. “Of all the insects in the galaxy, we did not expect you to skitter into our domain.”

It _was_ him…he knew that voice anywhere.

“Ren,” he said through clenched teeth. “What…happened to you?”

The masquerade mask was now nose-to-nose with him, yellow eyes glittering wickedly.

“A funny thing…” Kylo Ren’s voice was deep and purred as though coupled with a lower octave, an otherworldly echo. “When you left me to die on Starkiller…when I _did_ die on Starkiller…a creature came to me. A demon of the Dark Side. It offered to meld with me. To grant me eternal life, by ruling the damned. And now we are forever. Bound and burning and bathing in the power of the Dark Side.” Hux heard a deep lusty breath muffled behind the mask and its body shivered. “We should be thanking you for your incompetence, general. Is that why you are here?” The creature slowly lowered the mask. “To see how beautiful the great Kylo Ren has become?”

Hux’s breath hitched.

Ren’s face was unmarked, no deep lightsaber gashes, no marks of any kind. In fact he looked youthful, his ashen skin soft and glowing, his dark eyebrows thin and accented those golden eyes that no longer held the boyish angst of life. He looked...angelic. An ironic thought, considering the demonic accessories he now adorned.

Hux had always found Kylo Ren physically enticing, though only when he kept his infernal mouth shut. Infected with insecurities, mired by his own impulsive incompetence, any attraction the general had towards the Force-user was always extinguished soon after it sparked.

But now…

The demonic Kylo Ren oozed with confidence. Gone was the bull-headed heavy-handedness, the overindulgent ego that took over his being when things did not go his way. Those layers were burned away. What remained was dark and self-assured. A calm cruelty that Hux had hoped the boy would one day find in life. And yet he seemed to find with ease in death.

Ren brought a hellfire-kissed claw up to stroke the side of Hux’s cheek. The skin was rough and warm, the fingertips pointed, tipped with a red ethereal glow that left traces in the air as it grazed along Hux’s jawline. “Tell us, what do you need, general?”

 Hux steeled himself. His eyes narrowed and despite not being able to move, he sniffed arrogantly. “I have need of more power. I was told to come to this place to find it.”

“You have need,” Ren echoed, pulling his full lips back into a grin baring razor sharp incisors. “You _do_ have a need don’t you…”

Hux was not aware of just how hard he was until the demon stepped closer, grazing its own thinly covered erection against Hux’s covered member. The general hadn’t meant to whimper at the sudden attention. He hadn’t meant to struggle to buck his hips forward. He hadn’t meant to crave more from this creature.

He bit back the urge to plead the demon to touch him…

_This is wrong. Focus. This is not why you’re here._

“I need _power,”_ Hux said, firmly. “And you’re going to give it to me or I am taking my datacron and leaving.”

The demon let out a cruel laugh. “General, you _have_ power. Tell me,” the demon breathed against Hux’s neck, taking in his scent and shivering, “what you _need._ You did not come here for more armies, for more influence in the galaxy. What is it then? What do you desire?”

Hux did not want to go into this. He didn’t want to reveal what his final plans were to this…this thing.

But the urge in him. It was intoxicating. The demon smelled of char and an erotic musk, what little parts grazed against Hux’s skin, a claw against the cheek, a brushing against his pants, lips against his neck, Hux craved more. He needed more. He would do anything to get what he needed.

“I want to be Emperor,” he blurted.

The demon snapped his head up. “Emperor,” it said, mulling it over, thoughtfully. “For this you would have to kill Supreme Leader Snoke.”

“Yes.”

“And for that…you would need to possess the Dark Side…”

Hux did not blink. “Yes.”

A malicious smile spread across the demon’s lips. “Oh, general. Kylo Ren had to die before you finally believed the true power of the Dark Side?”

“Will you help me or not?” Hux asked, the sweat trickling down his spine.

“Not for free,” Ren replied, his voice holding no innuendo, to Hux’s surprising disappointment.

“What can I give you?”

Ren unclasped the silver chain to Hux’s grey cloak and let it fall to the ground. With a single claw he undid the fasteners of his cream jacket and let it fall open, exposing the grey tank shirt beneath. Hux’s pale freckled skin rose with goosebumps at the cold air, then twitched as Ren pressed a hot clawed hand against his chest.

“We shall give you the power of the Dark Side to become Emperor in exchange for your soul when your time is done.”

The tome had warned of this. The Night Sisters had warned of this. And up until this point, Hux had not heeded these warnings as he never believed in an afterlife. Staring at the demonic presence of the deceased Kylo Ren however...he realized the gravity of the situation.

_But then again...I am still dealing with the idiot child I have always dealt with, aren’t I?_

And it was a fact that General Hux was smarter than Kylo Ren.

Hux sneered despite being held tightly in place. “You have always wanted more from me than I was willing to give you.”

The demon bristled, though he maintained his sinister smile. “Have we?”

“Ren has. And giving me a few magical powers does not seem to be an even trade. What if we instead bargain for my soul?”

“A bargain…” The demon looked amused. “Let’s have it then.”

Hux chose his words carefully. “If you grant me the power of the Dark Side and I fail to become Emperor, you may have my soul for all eternity. If I succeed, however, my soul is my own.”

The smile that crept across Ren’s lips alarmed Hux and before the demon could affirm the deal, Hux added, “And after I am emperor I shall keep the powers of the Dark Side.”

There it was, the demon’s yellow eyes flared a moment, but a thin-lipped smiled pulled across the demon’s face. “The Dark Side is a powerful entity. Insects like you are not worthy to possess it,” it hissed. “Once Snoke is defeated, the Dark Side’s power will be returned to us. You will have no further need of it.”

_I know his plan. He will strip me of the Dark Side the moment I obtain power, hoping the galaxy will slip through my grasp and he can claim my soul. He was a fool in life and he is a fool in death if he thinks I will fall for his petty tricks._

“I keep the Dark Side powers. Those are my terms, demon.” Hux spat. “If you want a shot at the great General Hux’s soul, this is how you get it.”

The demon let out a soft growl. “Do not challenge us, boy. If we wanted your soul, we could take it now..”

“But you haven’t taken it,” Hux sneered. “And here we are bargaining for it.”

The demon’s face darkened. “Watch your tone. You speak to more than just a Force-using knight. We transcend the galaxy’s existence. Countless souls have fallen to our possession. Yours is no prize.”

Hux smirked. “I am thirty-four and I have already taken billions of souls in the galaxy. Imagine what I can do when I am Emperor.”

The demon did not lash out the way Hux had expected from the Ren-infected creature. In fact, the general was unprepared for the cruel smile that crept across his lips. “And tell me general...how did it feel to bathe in the blood of these _billions_ of lives?”

Hux said nothing.

“I bet their lives were nothing more than blinking lights on a data screen. You did not kill billions, you wiped out the _idea_ of billions.” The demon grabbed the back of Hux’s neck and pulled him close, the claws pressing hard against Hux’s skin, threatening to pierce it. “You do not know what it's like to truly take a life,” it whispered in his ear. “To have it in your arms. To slowly pull it away and watch their expression shift. Horror and pain fading into defeat and acceptance. You do not know what it feels like to watch their light blink out. To have those eyes stare back at you as if you have committed some great betrayal. When in truth you are their salvation and their damnation.”

A chill washed over Hux, a slight moment of panic as he realized he may have just overstepped himself and ruined his one chance to-

The demon suddenly let go of Hux’s neck. “Your bargain...we shall take it.” The demon’s face was still lined deep with resentment, a face that he had seen on Kylo so many times.

Hux bit back his smile, lest the demon change his mind.

_Poor Kylo, still believing he can outsmart me…_

With a gentle gesture, the demon slowly lowered Hux to the ground, a rush of pain and relief flooding Hux’s body as the Force hold left him. He did not realize how much taller the demon was, taller than Ren in life. As the demon loomed over him, Hux grounded himself. Now having full control over his body, he was not going to let this demon think he would run at the first possible chance.

“Well if there is nothing else…”Hux said, moving to refasten his jacket.

“The deal is not done,” Kylo said, brushing Hux’s hands away. “We need to,” he hooked a claw into Hux’s pants and pulled forward, “seal the deal.”

Hux tightened his jaw, his breath quickened.

_This is necessary...This is necessary..._

“Of course,” Hux said, keeping his voice even, his eyes unblinking.

The demon ran a clawed hand through Hux’s hair, the other slipping past his shirt around his waist and pulling Hux hard against him. The general let out a soft moan before he could hold it back, feeling his hips press firmly against the thin loincloth, feeling how hard and wanting the demon was for him. And realizing how badly he wanted it back.

Kylo bared his teeth with a feral snarl, his fang pricking his tongue.

Hux’s eyes widened. He cried out in protest, but the sound was muffled as the demon pressed his lips hard against the general’s mouth. Hux struggled for a moment. He pressed his hands against the demon’s hardened chest, only to find himself wrapping his arms around the demon instead, digging his fingernails into the heated flesh. He felt Ren’s fangs bite into his lower lip and he let out a feral sound, tasting his own blood mixed with the peppered metallic taste of the demon’s essence.

With a guttural groan, the demon slipped his thigh between Hux’s legs and grinded hard against him, bloody tongue searching and probing the general’s mouth. And Hux, so drunk with need, it took him a moment to realize what was truly happening.

His eyes shot open.

Tendrils of dark energy seeped between his lips and Ren’s. The demon blood tasted burnt and dark and...he couldn’t stop taking it in. He sucked hungrily on the demon’s tongue, whimpering desperately like a starved man finally finding nourishment.

When the demon finally pulled away, a bloody thread between them, Hux was left gasping, his knees nearly buckling beneath him as warm energy pulsed through this body.

The demon backed away, stepping onto the stone slab, “The deal is done, General Hux...the Dark Side is already growing within you. You shall feel it soon. And be warned. The Dark Side has a life of its own. You will have to decide whether to let it devour you or use it to devour those who stand in your way.”

“The next time you see me, Ren, you will address me as Emperor.” Hux said firmly.

“We shall see…” And with a sneer the demonic Kylo Ren melted back into the void.

As the stone slab returned to its original form, Hux was alone once again.

A small tremble coursed through him.

Then a larger quake.

He fell to his knees onto the cold stone.

He gasped and shuddered, his member throbbing and aching for a creature not of this world.

And then he felt it. Something beyond yearning. Something past the adrenaline of sealing a contract with a demon. There was a warm coal that formed within him. It was small. It started in his gut. But it was undeniably there. He focused on it.

It felt hungry...

 _This is the beginning._ Hux thought, looking up at the stars that peeked through the canopy of dead trees.

_And we shall devour all that stand in our way._

[Concept Art: 

 

 

 


	2. The Lieutenant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Excerpt:  
> “Closer,” Hux said. His insides reverberated. His brain buzzed with this sudden sensation of… _hunger_.  
>  Mitaka swallowed hard.  
> Though his lips were pressed shut, Hux heard a soft echo of Mitaka’s voice. It permeated off him like a sweet scent only Hux could inhale...which he did so, deeply.  
> He has dreamt of this for months now. This exact moment. To finally be close to his general. To touch him in any sense. How close was he allowed to get? Or was this a cruel test of some kind?  
> Mitaka took two steps forward. His leg brushed against Hux’s knee, ever so slightly.  
> Hux patted his thigh. “Sit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is inspired by the German Tragedy "Faust" [(Story summary)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust#Summary_of_the_story) (You may want to read this so you aren't shocked by the Tragedy parts of this fic)  
> This collaborative fic is written by White Rainbow and came from the brilliant idea of an amazing artist, FesteringSilence. This fic would not exist without their concept art and vision!
> 
> Follow us on Tumblr!  
> Writer: [White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist: [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 

The first day, Hux tried to fan the fires of the Force within him, but the power seemed a barely flickering candle.

On the second day, it was reduced to a dying ember.

By the third day, Hux found himself truly fearing Hell.

He had no teacher to help him unlock this potential, and aside from a handful of snide boasts from Kylo Ren, Hux knew almost nothing of the Force. He saw nothing particularly different with the world. He didn’t feel “one” with the universe. The one person who could show him the ways of the Force was not an option since he was going to kill Snoke with his new found powers.

Unless he failed…

He didn’t want to think about what failing meant for him.

Hux sat alone in his office in Starkiller Base at a long deep grey desk that housed several screens of reports, diagrams and indicators of the First Order’s progress in the galaxy. He swiped through the screens absently. His thoughts drifted back to the demonic Kylo Ren...and the kiss that damned him for all eternity.

“Sir?”

Hux straightened. His heart seized.

“Lieutenant,” he breathed, then remembering himself, he put on an air of irritancy. “Yes. What is it?”

Mitaka stood at attention on the other side of his desk. Hands tucked behind his back, heels together. His shiny black hair tucked neatly beneath an officer’s cap. His cheeks flushed at Hux’s question. “Sir, I’m here with the GP Report.”

The Galactic Progression Report, of course Hux knew this because he was the one who had ordered Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka to perform such a menial task. Hux could have read these reports himself...

But then he would not be able to look upon the one thing in the galaxy that General Hux couldn’t have.

Hux had always found Mitaka enticing. The lieutenant possessed boyish good looks, though not much younger than the General. His smooth skin radiated with an innocent rosy hue, his dark eyes were round and intelligent, albeit skittish. His voice was surprisingly deep, and gentle. The lightness of his Imperial-born accent calmed Hux in a way no one else could. He had always wondered idly what kind of other sounds the lieutenant could make with that perfect mouth.

The attraction Hux had for the man was nothing of import, until a few months ago. Circumstances had...changed then and these days whenever the general looked upon the lieutenant it felt as if he gazed upon a precious artifact across a small chasm. Always just out of reach…

_Ever since that day…_

Hux pushed the memory away. “Yes, of course, lieutenant. Go ahead.”

Superior officers were forbidden to engage in amorous affairs with subordinates. The general never allowed himself to be an exception to any rule, and his unwavering sense of duty forbade him to make good on his feelings towards the officer. If he were to involve himself with the lieutenant, he would be forced to transfer him...and that would mean never looking upon that sweet, gentle face again.

Mitaka kept his eyes forward, not looking directly at the general and began to recite the report from memory.

Mitaka never looked at Hux during these reports, eyes always respectfully forward no matter how badly Hux wanted those eyes to peer through the general’s icy visage. Hux only had to look forward to the end of these reports, when Mitaka afforded a single glance. For a brief moment. Their eyes would lock, and a pained glassiness would wash over the lieutenant’s face before bowing and leaving his office.

Today was no different. Mitaka kept his eyes forward. Chin up. That delicate tongue pronouncing each word in a soft, deep cadence.  

_You could take him you know…_

Hux blinked. “What?”

Mitaka faltered. “I...I said the Kanjiklub gang moved most of their operations off Akiva for now, but…”

_We know he won’t resist. We see how he looks at us...when he has the courage to look at us._

_I can’t. It is against regulations._ Hux thought, wondering how he was arguing with himself about this. Yet this other voice felt more of a suggestion, something gently coaxing his mind to form the thoughts. A rising vapor of subconscious need.

 _Does an Emperor bow to regulations? Or does an Emperor take what he wants?_ It seemed to say.

 _I am not Emperor,_ he argued. The thought sparked anger within him, sharp and surprisingly vivid.

_Isn’t it time to change that?_

Hux rose from his chair and straightened out his uniform. Mitaka blinked, but did not waver as he changed topics from Akiva to shifts in Tatooine's underground syndicate.

As Hux circled around his desk. Mitaka paled and he licked his lips nervously. It was plain to see the uncertainty at this sudden change in routine. Hux was tired of normalcy. He was tired of a great many things.

Hux sat on the smooth surface of the desk, hands gripping the edge.

Mitaka struggled to keep his eyes forward, clearing his throat. Faint perspiration formed at his temples. “Though the Hutts have left…”

“Lieutenant...”

Mitaka lifted his chin. “Sir?”

“Come here.”

This time Mitaka did look at him. The sudden eye contact did more than make Hux’s heart pang in his chest. Something deeper beat within him. As Mitaka walked forward, that beat increased in rhythm. It thrummed through his body as the lieutenant stopped at a respectful distance between them, just out of reach.

“Closer,” Hux said. His insides reverberated. His brain buzzed with this sudden sensation of… _hunger_.

Mitaka swallowed hard.

Though his lips were pressed shut, Hux heard a soft echo of Mitaka’s voice. It permeated off him like a sweet scent only Hux could inhale...which he did so, deeply.

_He has dreamt of this for months now. This exact moment. To finally be close to his general. To touch him in any sense. How close was he allowed to get? Or was this a cruel test of some kind?_

Mitaka took two steps forward. His leg brushed against Hux’s knee, ever so slightly.

Hux patted his thigh. “Sit.”

Everything felt more vivid the closer Mitaka came. Hux could hear the lieutenant’s breath catch. His heart hammer in his chest, his hands rub behind him nervously. And he felt every inch of him shiver as Hux reached forward and took Mitaka’s hips in his hands, turning him around and sliding him onto his lap.

The smaller man straddled Hux’s thigh, leaning back as the general wrapped his arms around Mitaka’s waist. Hux held him for a long moment, taking in his scent, listening to the quickening in Mitaka’s thoughts. Feeling the crackle of raw energy coming from him. The lusty ache, the need for his general.

It seemed strange that what Hux could not conjure on his own, Mitaka seemed to pull from him so effortlessly. Hux’s disciplined nature did nothing to feed the Force within him. But Mitaka…his nervous demeanor, his deep passion, and now his barely bridled need for his general. It awoke something within Hux.

The hunger he felt in the swamp was back and it was growing.

“I have wanted this for so long,” Hux found himself saying. He felt drunk. A shiver rippled through his body as he bucked his hips forward against Mitaka’s back, smelling fresh aftershave and the light scent of clean linen from his uniform.

“Sir…” Lieutenant gasped, his hand bracing himself against into Hux’s thigh, squeezing it.

 _It wasn't what he wanted to say to the general._ Mitaka’s thoughts whispered to Hux. _What could he say? That he has always wanted this? That since he had first seen Armitage Brendol Hux in the Academy he had dreamt of the handsome, red-haired, cold-eyed boy who grew into a general with a vision and man he loved from afar?_

“I had no idea...” Hux said aloud.

He felt panic prick at Mitakas nerves.

“Sir, I...just-”

Mitaka’s heartbeat spiked. His brain clicked and his body shuddered. The sensations took Hux aback. Had he pushed too hard? Was this too much for his precious lieutenant? Hux began to release Mitaka from his embrace. “If this is too much...”

Mitaka caught the general’s wrist. And with a gentle pressure he guided Hux’s hand down, pressing it firmly against the rock-hard bulge in his pants. The lieutenant gasped. “Please…I need you.”

Hux breathed hard against the officer’s shoulder, squeezing the man's hardness, drawing out a soft cry from the lieutenant that Hux had only dreamt of before.

With a deft hand, he unfastened Mitaka’s slacks. The Lieutenant squirmed eagerly on his lap, grinding against him as he helped free his silky, hard member that Hux had longed to touch.

It was thick and longer than Hux had imagined. He ran a thumb over the cockhead already feeling a dewdrop of precum, which he glided over his frenulum, drawing out more soft, needy sounds.

[See NSFW Version Here](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/post/143644736903/memento-mori-faust-au-chapter-2-closer-hux)

Hux kept his strokes slow and deliberate. Mitaka whimpered and bucked his hips, urging the general to go faster, but Hux gripped his waist with his free hand forcing him still. He wanted this moment to last…

After all, the Dark Side needed to be fed.

Soft pumping motions brought out a long chorus of moans from Mitaka’s lips. His sounds keeping a rhythm with Hux's hand.

Hux imagined crimson tendrils of energy plucking at the raw intensity of Mitaka’s emotions like a violin. It gently hummed in Hux’s brain, and enveloped the two of them, the Force wrapping them in a dark embrace.

 _More,_ the crimson darkness whispered. _We need more._

Hux moved his other hand up to Mitaka’s jacket, unfastening it, exposing the grey tank shirt beneath. He untucked the thin fabric and slipped a hand under feeling a solid body taut and shivering in pleasure.

He found the lieutenant’s left nipple and toyed with it. Mitaka sucked in a breath as Hux pinched it. Sparks of sensation exploded like small fireworks around him, which the Force consumed ravenously. He shifted to the right nipple and twisted slightly while giving Mitaka’s shaft a tight squeeze. The officer’s delightful yelp sent sharp energy through Hux’s core. He pushed his hips up in response. It took every ounce of the general’s control to resist grabbing Mitaka and bending him over the desk. But the sheer power of Mitaka’s ecstasy was intoxicating. It surged through him. It made him feel...powerful.

 _Because we_ are _powerful, Armitage..._

Things were beginning to make sense. The great mystery unraveled before his very eyes. He could see the Force around him, around Mitaka. It had always been there, and most importantly he recognized just why the Dark Side was so powerful. Not because it was an element of evil, in fact it was not evil at all. The light seeks only to oppress the dark, to stifle it. Those extinct Jedi forbade themselves the pleasures of the flesh and cursed the Darkness, but they did not know the power that could be gained from lust and love. The dark was life. It was passion. It was insatiable.

As was Mitaka as he arched his back, his body craving more. He laid his head on Hux's shoulder, panting and grabbing onto Hux’s red locks.

“General…” Mitaka breathed.

“Bren...from my middle name...” Hux corrected, no longer wanting to remember the rank between them.

A choked sob came from those soft lips. “B-Bren...I'm so close.” He turned to look at Hux, his eyes glazed over, intoxicated. Hux pressed his lips against Mitaka’s mouth, swallowing those high moans as he stroked him faster...harder…

Mitaka clamped a hand over his member as he came. The warm come spilled into Mitaka’s hands, only a little getting on Hux as the lieutenant managed to keep his release from staining his or the general’s uniform. That small touch of consideration amidst this torrid encounter…

It made Hux's heart swell. It made him love this boy all the more.

_Love._

It was never a word that had crossed Hux’s mind before, but with the darkness that stirred within him it made sense. He wanted to embrace these strong emotions that for so long he had kept tethered to a disciplined chain. He needed them now. And for that he needed this man, gasping for air on his lap, to give him the strength he needed to conquer the galaxy.

Mitaka fell limp in Hux's arms, sweat glistening his brow. Hux kissed his exposed neck tenderly.

“Mitaka…” as he said it occurred to him that he didn't truly know what the Lieutenant wanted to be called.

“Ph...Phel, please. I've always wanted to be called Phel.”

“Phel…” It felt right on his lips.

“Why, sir…Bren…” Mitaka said, his voice steadying. “Why now...Why me?”

Hux considered this for a moment. How much to say…what to say…

“Get cleaned up. We need to talk…”

The bliss that clung to the air around Mitaka, the bliss that Hux plucked like ripe berries to feed the darkness, now soured and shriveled into a foreboding mass.

“Yes, sir,” Mitaka said, too obediently. He stood up, cupping his hands and pulling a tissue from a box on Hux's desk. Hux frowned, reaching over to clean his own hands.

Before he could speak, Mitaka straightened and said, “I'll accept whatever post you give me, sir. Just...thank you for this...for us. I wanted-” his eyes welled with tears, but he cleared his throat. “-I hope in another life-”

Hux stared at him baffled. He was ready to be reassigned. He wasn’t going to beg to stay. He wasn’t going to press Hux to keep it a secret. He was going to accept the consequences as per protocol.

Hux’s chest ached for the man. Everything ached for him.

“Phel, no…” he stood up and cupped the man's face, his thumb brushing away the tear that had fallen from the officer’s cheek. “That's not what this is…”

“Sir, I don't understand. Rule 17-00b states-”

“I know what it states. I helped write the damned thing.” Hux snapped. “And stop calling me ‘sir.’”

The Force around Mitaka was distracting. The heavy cloud over the lieutenant was breaking up, but flickered with confusion. Hux struggled to find a way to calm the maelstrom. “Phel, things have changed. I have changed. And many more things will change,” he took Mitaka’s hands in his, “if you help me.”

The storm started to clear. Mitaka even looked hopeful. “What...kind of change?”

Hux knew it must have looked strange, that he, the stringent disciplinarian, was willing to break his own rules with someone so far below his rank. There were so many more rules he was about to break, however, and Mitaka needed to be fully on board if it was ever going to work.

“You're going to want to sit for this.”

He guided Mitaka to a ring of plush chairs and small couches to the side of Hux's office while Hux grabbed two crystal glasses at the nearby bar. He filled them generously with one of his finer whiskeys and handed one to Mitaka, sitting close to him on the soft leather couch. He took a healthy gulp of the beige liquid before setting down his drink. Mitaka didn’t touch his and placed it on the table with a shaky hand.

Hux scooped up the Lieutenant's hands, feeling them tremble, feeling his whole aura tremble.

“You know I went to Dathomir…”

“Yes, to look for a separatists base forming under-”

“That's not why I went…” Hux cut in. “I went there looking for…power.”

“But you have power,” Mitaka blurted.

Hux bristled. _He sounds like Kylo._

His entire being prickled with anger, like hot needles stabbing in his flesh. _Why does everyone insist I have power? Are they blind? Do they not know that the Supreme Leader will always be stronger than me? That I am nothing but an animal he throws scraps of the galaxy to when it suits him? He sits on his throne laughing at the neutered general who has no Force-sense and no true power save for what Snoke gives him._

A rattling noise sounded behind him.

Hux turned to see the bar tray quivering. The bottles atop trembled noisily. A glass fractured slightly.

He took a deep breath.

_It’s not Mitaka’s fault. He doesn't understand. No one does. Snoke is a looming shadow, but General Hux is the face of the First Order. Of course no one knows the power struggle between us over the galaxy._

The needle-like pressure subsided. The bottles quieted.

He turned to the lieutenant, who was gawking wide-eyed at the bottles.

Mitaka snapped his head back at Hux. “You went to Dathomir to find the Force.” Mitaka pulled his hand free. “You're Force-sensitive now aren’t you.” The devastation, the utter betrayal splintering Mitaka’s face sent Hux reeling.

“Yes,” was all Hux could say. This wasn’t the reaction he expected. Surprise perhaps. Awe, he had hoped. This horror however…a grey shadow of terror and dread whipped around the man. Hux shook his head, trying to will away the visions of Mitaka’s distress. “It...it was necessary.”

“It's not necessary, sir.” Mitaka insisted and Hux felt a sting at the distance in that title. “It’s never been _necessary_. You won the war without it. The First Order rules the galaxy without the use of...magic.” he spat the word like an oath.

He rubbed his throat reflexively.

It was then that the general understood.

Kylo had tormented Lieutenant Mitaka using the Force. Mitaka’s position of being the hapless messenger among the high-ranking officers put him in harm’s way of Kylo’s outbursts on more than one occasion. The impulsive tantrum-ridden Force-user had all but broken Mitaka with his irresponsible use of this ancient magic. Could he blame the man for feeling betrayed that the general he idolized now turned to this very power that Kylo abused so terribly?

Hux felt those hot pins start to sink into his being again, but he resisted, taking several deep breaths.

“I am not him, Phel,” he said firmly. “And yes I do need this power. Despite how it may appear I am no longer the driving force of the First Order. The Supreme Leader,” Hux uttered Snoke’s title with a soured tone, “has taken control once again. And he continues to deny the potential risks lurking in the Outer Rim.”

Mitaka perked up at this. “Has he not looked at the PG Report, sir? The Hutts are meeting with the pirates of Geonosis. They are _planning_ something. It's in my report! And Kanjiklub…”

Hux smiled. “That's why I need to do this. I need the power of the Force to strike him when he least expects it. It needs to come from a man he would never think to dare oppose him.”

He felt it safe enough to lean forward and take Mitaka’s hand once again, but Mitaka pulled away.

“I can’t trust you,” Mitaka said, his eyes welling with tears. “How do I know this is real? How do I know this isn’t just some mind trick, some way to siphon power from me to get what you want?”

Hux blinked. The boy had done his homework on the Force. He at least knew as much of how the Dark Side worked. “It’s not like that,” Hux said. “You give me strength. You’ve always given me strength.”

The words sounded even less convincing even as he said them. Part of him _was_ using Mitaka. The Dark Side felt alive and powerful around him. But there was so much more…

He looked at Mitaka, and focused deep into his eyes. Those brown pools that seemed almost black in the soft light of the office. They eyes of a wounded animal. He wanted to protect them, to heal them.

Hux had once watched Kylo torture a man by touching his temple, closing his eyes and pushing his own thoughts into the man until he wept. Hux wondered if he could use a gentler method on his lieutenant to show him how he felt.

“Phel…” he whispered, slowly scooting towards Mitaka, who did not recoil this time. “Please let me show you. Please trust me this once. If you don’t like what you see, you can walk out of here and we will never speak of this again. But please just this once.”

Mitaka’s eyebrows knitted, and he reluctantly nodded. Hux held his breath as pressed a finger against the man’s temple.

The world immediately dimmed around Hux. He closed his eyes and focused on a singular moment. The day he fell in love with Dopheld Mitaka.

\-----

_Kylo’s death hit Hux harder than he expected. The image of the knight’s lifeless body in the snow was forever branded in his mind. Liquor helped. The drunken haze drowned out the memories. It took the edge off the pain of his failure to save the man. He should have saved him…_

_Kylo had potential. If he had more time to train, to grow. He could have become the man Hux would have been glad to have in the First Order. Someone to stand at his side. By his side…_

_Hux drank beyond his limit and still Kylo’s face haunted him. He went through his finest bottle, throwing it at the wall as it betrayed him by being so empty._

_Dressed in his grey tank and a pair of loose fitting grey pants, Hux stumbles his way into the Officer’s lounge late at night to raid the liquor cabinet. He breaks the first bottle when his clumsy fingers knock it onto the counter, glass cutting his arm and hand as he tries to half-heartedly clean it up. He laughs at the blood. Blood on his hands. There will always be blood on his hands._

_He sinks into the corner of the lounge, bleeding and hugging a bottle of gin he didn’t have the strength to open. Tears streak his face._

_He sees a pair of shiny boots stand in front of him._

_“Sir?” A silky deep voice asked. “May I help?”_

_Hux sees nothing but concern on the Lieutenant’s face. He takes Hux back to his room. He cleans Hux’s wounds. He tucks him into bed. Hux remembers him brushing the sweat-soaked hair from his forehead. It was tender. It soothed him into sleep._

_Mitaka had taken care of everything the next few days. The crew were informed that Hux was off-base to take care of Kylo Ren’s affairs. Colonel Datoo was to take over for him in his absence. Hux remained in his quarters for two days, privately mourning. Mitaka came to him silently with meals, fresh caff, and reports of all progress on base. And after when Hux felt ready to face the world again, the Lieutenant and he never spoke of those few days. Hux never forgot that kindness._

_He never forgot the way he stroked the general’s hair._

_Hux will become Emperor. He knows this. And when he does he will dress in white. The galaxy will sink to their knees before him and they will sink to the man standing to his side. He will wear the colors of his Emperor and the world will come to fear and love the names Hux and Mitaka._

_\-----_

Hux and Mitaka gasped in unison as the vision broke.

The world came flooding back to both of them and they stared blinking at each other for several moments.

Tears streaked down Mitaka’s face. This time it was he who took Hux’s hands in his own.

“You're...you're moving to become Emperor?”

“Yes,” Hux said.

“And you want me at your side?”

“Yes.”

Mitaka bit his lip, as though chewing this over. “I want to trust you…”

Hux pulled a hand free and cupped Mitaka’s cheek. “I swear to you, I will never enter your mind without your permission. I will never control what you do or say. I say this honestly, Phel, you are the only person in the galaxy that _can_ trust me. You need to understand that in order to make this work, I will be bending the wills of all around us to make this happen. I will break the cosmos to do our bidding if I must, but it will always be _our_ bidding. And I promise I will protect you from anyone who opposes us.” Hux took a breath. “My question to you is, are you with me?”

Mitaka didn’t answer at first. He sat there, glassy-eyed, body quivering, his aura colored grey in turmoil.

And then Mitaka shifted off the couch and sank to his knees in front of Hux. He took his general’s hand in his and pressed those beautiful lips against his palm, then his wrist, then placed it against his cheek.

“If you'll have me, Emperor...I am with you until the end.”


	3. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux's first attempt to tap into the Dark Side backfires in an unexpected way. There's no turning back now...
> 
> Excerpt:  
> The narrow hallway snaked and twisted and turned through Starkiller Base, and Hux took several sharp turns before almost losing Mitaka down one bend. With a mischievous grin, he ducked into an alcove.  
> “Sir?” Mitaka called.  
> Hux remained silent.  
> “...Bren?” he called again, quieter.  
> The moment Mitaka passed the alcove, Hux grabbed his wrist and yanked the Lieutenant into the shadows. Hux clamped a gloved hand over Mitaka’s mouth, stifling the man’s startled yelp and pushed him against the stony wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow us on tumblr!  
> Writer:[White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist: [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 

 

“Enough.” Hux’s voice was low, yet all the high-ranking officers shouting in the conference room immediately quieted at the sound of his command.

Hux took his time, shooting hard stares at each of his subordinates until they sank into their chairs.

“This,” he said, gesturing to his audience, “is not how the First Order runs the galaxy. Squabbling over territories is beneath us. Our goal is to unite the galaxy under one singular vision, not bicker over planetary systems just because you enjoy a ski lodge in Hoth or the Nightlife of Ord Mantell.”

Colonels and lesser generals alike wilted at the beration, their eyes respectfully lowered. Their abashment did nothing to quell Hux’s concerns. With their individual quests for power growing in momentum, they may eventually splinter into factions. If that happened, it would not be long before they formed alliances against the whole of the First Order.

Hux had worked too hard to keep the First Order together during the Republic and the Resistance’s constant disruptions. He was not about to allow these petty turf wars dissolve his Empire before it began.

Hux felt a thought slither through his mind. _We know of a way to solve this…_

“Sir-” Colonel Datoo bit back his words as Hux raised a gloved hand.

“Colonel Datoo,” Hux said, leaning forward in his chair and drawing in a focused breath. “ _You will be in charge of the Kashyyyk system._ ”

Datoo stiffened. “ _I will be in charge_ -” then he shook his head. “Sir, with all due respect, Colonel Kaplan is more adept-”

“Why?” Kaplan snapped. “Because I once spent a summer in that allergy-conjuring nightmare? I don’t even speak ShyriIwook! Not that I could while I was too busy sneezing!”

Hux pinched the bridge of his nose and sunk back into his chair. The other half-dozen officers devolved into arguments of their own. Accusations of unsanctioned deployment of fleets, unfounded claims of planets by birthright. The cacophony of complaints was humiliating.

Hux loathed that the Lieutenant had to witness this inelegant display.

Hux’s eyes drifted across the long table to Lieutenant Mitaka, who watched the display with wide-eyed wonderment.

 _An expression that he will need to wipe off his face if he is to ever rise above his superiors._ Hux noted.

Still, Hux did not mind watching those round dark eyes take in the heated arguments with his insatiable curiosity. Hux could feel the officer’s nervous energy rise and fall as Kaplan and Datoo slung insults at each other. He, in fact, could sense more of Mitaka’s energy than he could the two men. Ideally, Hux should be feeding off the anger that plumed from the men with ease, yet their rumbling auras did not seem to interest the darkness curled within Hux’s core. The Force within him felt cooled, dormant and uninterested.

There lay a serious problem. If he could not influence the mind of one officer on a matter of minor import, he would be hard pressed to win over the whole of the First Order.

 _Time is running short. Each time I use the Force I risk Snoke noticing._ He gazed at Mitaka. _I cannot fail._

The Lieutenant met his eyes, concern washing over his face. Hux did his best to lighten his soured look, though he did not entirely know how to look any other way.

Datoo rounded on Colonel Vu, flinging accusations of pushing troops into Bespin without permission. This sent two more officers into an outrage and they shot from their chairs to join in the verbal fray.

Hux struggled to focus on the officers’ rage. Their auras looked like churning thunderstorms, and yet they felt as though he were looking at a hurricane on a holovid. Hux felt nothing for their passions.

 _Kylo would have had no trouble feeding off their negative emotions._ Hux thought, with a bitter note. _But then he had his own anger to keep himself satiated._

Hux, on the other hand, was slow to anger. He was pragmatic, took his time, taking care to avoid impulsive actions.

He did not have the natural…volatility of a Dark Force-user.

Yet, whenever he and Mitaka found themselves alone, the Force came easily to him. It hungered for the Lieutenant’s empathetic glow. In ecstasy, Mitaka’s cup overflowed with raw emotion that quenched his Dark Force’s thirst.

_And at this moment, I am parched._

He reached out to the Lieutenant’s mind with two simple words; words that would permit or deny him from entering into the man’s mind.

_May I?_

Mitaka stiffened in his seat, his eyes dodging back and forth at the other officers before giving a quick nod.

 _Bren?_ Mitaka ventured.

_I'm here._

_I can hear you..._ And it was clear Mitaka tried his hardest to bite back a gentle smile.

Hux kept his demeanor casual. His fingertips pressed together as the officers bickered back and forth, his eyes fixated solely on Mitaka.

_I want you to do something for me._

_Anything,_ Mitaka said eagerly. _Tell me what you need._

Hux suppressed a sneer. _Anything?_

_Of course._

_Touch yourself. Right now._

The light grey aura that continually floated around Mitaka crackled with crimson lightning.

 _Right now?_ Mitaka asked, his eyes widening.

Hux only arched an eyebrow expectantly.

A blush arose in the officer’s smooth cheeks. Slowly, he slid his chair forward, his hand disappearing under the table.

Hux felt the initial stroke with an electrifying intensity and he nearly gasped aloud. Mitaka was not touching himself lightly, but instead grabbing his half-hard member and giving it a firm squeeze. His eyebrows knitted for a brief moment before returning to a surprisingly sober expression.  

Despite the rising commotion from the high-ranking officers, the soft sounds from Mitaka drowned the noises out effortlessly. All that existed in Hux’s mind were the sounds of Mitaka’s quickening heartbeat and the soft friction of the Lieutenant’s leather gloves against his clothed member.

Hux felt something deep within him uncoil. Like a nest of snakes, a heated and hungry sensation slithered from his core. The Force stretched from within him in long ethereal tendrils, extending to Mitaka, caressing his essence, and stroking his gentle, erotic storm. Like languid tongues they lapped up the lightening, consuming it and sharpening Hux’s awareness of the Force.

 _Take it out._ Hux commanded.

Mitaka bit his lip hard and gave a quick look at the oblivious officers.

 _But they might see._ Mitaka’s shock was a thin veil over the rising excitement at the prospect.

An excitement that teased Hux’s growing hunger. _Yes. And you’ll have to be careful. You wouldn’t want them to catch you stroking yourself, would you?_

Hux felt Mitaka’s mind bend and sway with images of the officers sitting and watching Mitaka with hungry eyes. He heard the slow sound of Mitaka’s fasteners loosening. A torrential crack of the Force pulsated around the Lieutenant and more tendrils shot towards the feeding frenzy. Mitaka’s mind grew more clouded as he stroked his sensitive skin. Through the haze Hux could hear his words echo over and over in the air.

_Bren...I need you...I need you..._

Hux stiffened in his seat. Pleasure was pouring from the Lieutenant like a waterfall, and Hux drank it in voraciously. Hux felt the power thrum through his own cock and travel through his fingers down to his toes. His brain buzzed with need and want and satisfaction and an overwhelming confidence of invincibility.

 _Do you want me to take you now?_ Hux pressed. _In front of the officers? Do you want me to show them who you belong to?_

Mitaka’s heart pounded in his chest. His sober expression all but crumbled, his eyelids hooded.

 _Please, Emperor...take me...I don’t care anymore. I can’t hold on like this._ And part of Mitaka actually meant this, the feeling of need slamming into Hux’s core in unyielding waves.

_Please, Emperor…_

_Please..._

The world snapped into focus for General Hux.

He could see...everything, with fresh yet ancient eyes. Mitaka’s aura throbbed with a crimson need. Kaplan and Datoo were consumed in deep blue loathing and lust for power. The rest of the officers in shades of greens and violets were craving the kind of planetary hold the two colonels seemed to take for themselves.

Then Hux saw something else entirely.

Threads.

They were thin. Nearly undetectable save for the soft scarlet whispers surrounding them. Hux could see them winding around each officer’s minds including his Lieutenant’s. Hux raised a hand and the threads began to unspool, drifting towards him. The officers began to quiet down the longer the threads became.

_This is it. This is how I control them… This..._

Hux looked at Mitaka who had also begun to slow his movements, his thread traveling slowly to Hux’s hand. Hux’s heart seized. His promise to Mitaka came rushing back to him.

_"I swear to you, I will never enter your mind without your permission. I will never control what you do or say. I say this honestly, Phel, you are the only person in the galaxy that can trust me.”_

Hux shot out of his chair and slammed his hand on the table, severing the threads immediately.

Mitaka jerked his hand out from under the table. Then with a furious blush, he quickly reached down to refasten his pants.

The rest of the officers froze, dumbfounded at the general’s sudden outburst, which was so unlike his typical quiet, raging demeanor.

“Gentlemen,” Hux said in an even tone, adjusting his gloves in a casual manner that belied the quaking core of power within him, desperate to be unleashed. “Your pettiness is wearing my patience thin, and I have little tolerance for these childish disputes. If you cannot think for yourselves,” he extended his hands out to the officers in the room, “I shall have to do the thinking for you.”

Hux struggled to unleash only a fraction of his power to reach the threads of the officers’ minds. Yet the power within him was a raging river held back by a weakened dam. The moment he let go, the Force flooded the room. Hux yanked his arms apart to protect the oblivious Mitaka from the Force-powered flood.

Lights flickered. The table shook. A few chairs rattled.

Then a blinding scarlet flash ignited within the room.

When his vision returned to his eyes, he found threads of energy tethered around his hands. The energy burned brighter than he expected, though he had no idea what he was expecting. He looked back at Mitaka and was relieved to see that his own mind-thread was safely spooled within the Lieutenant’s mind.

“Sit,” he commanded.

Everyone sat.

“Bren?” Mitaka’s face paled.

“It’s alright.” Hux’s voice was low, his focus locked on the officers. “Now, gentlemen, let us try this again.” He shifted his attention to Colonel Datoo. “ _Colonel Datoo, you will assume control of the Kashyyyk system, yes?”_

 _“I will assume control of the Kashyyyk System.”_ Datoo echoed in an even cadence.

“And Colonel Kaplan, _you are happy to relinquish the Bespin System to Colonel Vu?”_

“ _I will happily relinquish the Bespin System to Colonel Vu,”_ responded Kaplan.

“Excellent,” Hux said, lifting his chin. “Now, all of you, this next bit is very important.” He rose to his feet. “There has been… a change in management within the First Order. You in this room are the first to hear of it, so mum’s the word until I give the official announcement.” Hux straightened up and adjusted his uniform, amused by the Force threads following his every movement obediently. “Snoke will no longer be serving as Supreme Leader of the First Order. He will be relinquishing his duties and I shall be stepping in…” Hux took a breath. “...as your Emperor.”

A thrill shot through his body as he finally said this aloud.

He looked around the room for a moment, at the attentive faces gazing at him. “I trust none of you take issue with this?”

The officers shot their fists in the air. “Hail, Emperor Hux.”

A sneer spread across Hux’s face.

_This is the beginning. This is where it all starts._

His sneer softened slightly as he looked over at Mitaka, a wide boyish grin crossing the Lieutenant’s face as he joined the salute.

“Hail,” he said, quietly.

“Now then,” Hux said, flexing his hands and taking several deep breaths, “let us see if this works.”

Hux released the threads, which spooled back into the officers’ minds.

The officers looked to each other, then back at Hux.

Finally, Colonel Datoo said, “Sir, I would just like to say how honored we are that you have chosen us to be the first to hear of your promotion. Congratulations, sir. Hail, Emperor.”

“Hail, Emperor,” the officers cheered in unison.

“Thank you, Colonel,” Hux said, nodding his head, ignoring Mitaka clapping a hand over his mouth in excited shock. “Now, going back to our original discussion. Colonel Kaplan, how do you feel about your planetary assignment?”

Kaplan laughed. “If it is the Emperor’s will, I think we can all agree that we will be happy with our assignments.”

Datoo and the other high-ranking officers bobbed their heads in agreement. Their smiles were complacent, and even…  genuine!

It took all of Hux’s will to not join Mitaka in slack-jawed wonderment at the sudden change of heart in his subordinates.

_It worked! It worked better than I had hoped, in fact. The suggestion is actually part of their psyche._

Hux had not heard of this effect before. Even Kylo only had a short-term hold on those he mind-tricked. Although the power he was bequeathed by the demonic Kylo Ren was far more potent than anything the living Kylo possessed.

And Kylo didn’t have anyone like Lieutenant Mitaka to fuel his Force-driven needs.

“Dismissed,” Hux said.

\-----

Hux and Mitaka walked closely together as they made their way through the long corridors of Starkiller Base, the Lieutenant just a step behind him out of discretion.

“We will need to act quickly,” Hux said in a low tone. “I need to find a way to reach the rest of the officers first. It will be difficult to control so many, but-”

“Hail, Emperor!”

Hux froze.

A group of low-ranking officers stood on a bridge above Hux and Mitaka. They all raised their fists in the air. “Bren,” Mitaka whispered. “How did they-”

“Hail, Emperor!”

Hux whirled around. Five mid-ranking officers stopped and saluted.

Hux dimly heard Mitaka squeak behind him. “Sir,” he said, shoving the datapad in front of Hux. “Look!”

The general’s hands were not accustomed to trembling. Yet as he lifted up the datapad and saw the thousands of messages flooding his inbox, he nearly dropped the pad.

The messages contained a variety of congratulations on his rise to Emperor. Some thanked him for allowing them to be the first to know. Other letters went so far as to say “Down with Snoke.”

_How did this happen?_

Then Hux remembered the surge of energy that flung from his being and his attempt at guiding that energy away from Mitaka. He must have pushed the Force beyond the room and instead of only focusing away from the Lieutenant, he focused it on every other officer in the First Order _except_ Mitaka.

Hux pounded a message onto his datapad.

[Gen.Hux]: Assemble all the stormtroopers you can find in the Amphitheater. It is time to announce my promotion.

The response was immediate.

[Col.Kaplan]: Very good, sir. Hail, Emperor.

“This is happening,” Mitaka breathed.

“Lieutenant,” Hux clipped.

Mitaka instinctively clicked his boots. “Sir.”

“A word, please.”

Hux tucked his hands behind his back and marched down a lesser-used corridor, hearing the Lieutenant walk briskly behind him.

The narrow hallway snaked and twisted and turned through Starkiller Base, and Hux took several sharp turns before almost losing Mitaka down one bend. With a mischievous grin, he ducked into an alcove.

“Sir?” Mitaka called.

Hux remained silent.

“...Bren?” he called again, quieter.

The moment Mitaka passed the alcove, Hux grabbed his wrist and yanked the Lieutenant into the shadows.  Hux clamped a gloved hand over Mitaka’s mouth, stifling the man’s startled yelp and pushed him against the stony wall.

“Quiet,” Hux said with a soft sneer, and pulled his hand away from Mitaka.

A spike of fear and excitement coursed through Mitaka. “Bren…what are you-” His words faded away as Hux pressed hard against him.

“What do you think, Lieutenant?”

“Here?” Another spike… Hux purred and nipped at Mitaka’s lips.

Footsteps echoed through the hallway.

“Someone will find us,” Mitaka whimpered. Hux pressed his hands on either side of Mitaka’s head, crowding the smaller man, his black uniform blending in with the shadows of the alcove. The stormtroopers that passed did not even stop.

Mitaka let out a sigh of relief as the footsteps died away. Hux licked his lips.

“Then we better make this quick,” he said.

Mitaka nodded, eyes round and needy.

Hux slipped a leg between Mitaka’s thigh, drawing out a gasp from the Lieutenant who began to grind desperately against Hux’s leg. Hux was half tempted to let the man continue to grind against him to release, but that would stain his uniform. The Dark Side may be slowly consuming the general, but he _was_ still the general.

His tongue slipped between the man’s lips, lapping up the noises as he dropped a hand to Mitaka’s belt.

With a flick of his flingers, the last fastener was freed and Mitaka’s cock pushed free, long and rock-hard and ready for his general.

Hux ran a gloved hand over the smooth skin. He kissed Mitaka’s neck. His palm pressed hard against Mitaka’s shaft, and an involuntary moan echoed a little too loud in the corridor.  

“Shh…” Hux purred, and stroked a little harder.

Mitaka let out another half-choked moan and bit his lip hard. “I…I can’t keep quiet,” he blushed, his eyes glassy and desperate. “Gag me…please...”

Hux cock throbbed at the plea and pressed two fingers against Mitaka’s awaiting mouth.

The general held his breath, stifling a moan of his own as he watched this beautiful man’s rosy lips wrap around his gloved fingers, suckling loudly on the leather.

Hux grabbed Mitaka’s cock with a stronger force, and pressed his fingers down on Mitaka’s tongue. Mitaka’s back arched, his moans choked away, his hips bucking forward.

The energy was intoxicating. It vibrated through the general’s entire being. It wanted to explode. It needed to be released. To pleasure, to punish, to control. It just _needed_.

Hux struggled hard to contain it. To hold it all in. He pressed his forehead against Mitaka’s shoulder. Hux resisted the urge to turn the Lieutenant around and shove him hard against the wall. He resisted the need to rip the Lieutenant’s pants open and kick his legs apart before plunging deep into him. He would make Mitaka scream his name. He would make sure his cries echoed throughout all of Starkiller Base. He would let it be known to all that Mitaka was his, and only General Hux could make him moan like this.

It took all of him to resist. He reminded himself he needed the frustration. The built-up tension gave him power… immense power. It pulsed and throbbed within his entire body.

He was going to need everything Mitaka fed him if he were to take control of the stormtroopers.

He would especially need it for Snoke...

And above all he needed to do this for Mitaka, the man who had given him everything, who gave him the power to become the Emperor he was meant to be.

“Come for me, Phel,” he gasped. “Come for your Emperor.”

Hux pulled his fingers away and consumed Mitaka’s moans as he drew him into a deep kiss, his tongue exploring and coaxing out more sounds as he cupped his hands over Mitaka’s cock, working it to release. Mitaka let out a high-pitched whine and pressed hard against Hux’s lips. His hands gripped Hux’s arms tightly to keep himself upright as he pumped urgently into Hux’s glove.

Mitaka’s body tensed. A crackle of energy shot in all directions around him and Hux greedily consumed it all.

With a drunken groan, Mitaka pulled away and leaned his head against the rock wall, gasping for air. Hux gently withdrew and took out a handkerchief, wiping his shaking hands. He felt dizzy, his cock painfully hard. He closed his eyes, feeling the ache burn within him, his nerves screaming for release.

Mitaka placed a hand against Hux’s cheek, his face etched with distress.

“Please, let me take care of you,” he said, his other hand gliding across the bulge in Hux’s pants.

The general let out a hiss, energy jetting through his core. Nearby, two light fixtures sparked and exploded. Hux pushed his hand away. “No, not yet. I...need this...at least until I am done with controlling the stormtroopers.” He broke into a devilish smile and licked his lips. “And I hope you will be prepared, Lieutenant.”

Mitaka blushed brightly. “Meet you back here when you’re done?” he asked.

Hux answered by pinning Mitaka’s wrists against the rock wall and grinding his hard cock against him.

\-----

It was almost too easy.

The Force threads of millions of stormtroopers extended towards him so willingly, Hux wondered if it was even necessary to mind-trick them. These white knights had given themselves to the First Order already. They have been programmed from birth to obey.

Yet every now and then, as Hux stood in the amphitheater, absorbing more of their essence into his core, he felt a thread or two catch, and Hux would remember why he was doing this. He needed to snuff out any trace of resistance from his army. Their support must be unwavering if he was to defeat Snoke and become their Emperor.

Defeating Snoke...

How exactly he planned on taking down the Supreme Leader, he was not sure, but there was no backing away now. The Force-powerful creature surely had sensed the shift in the First Order officers’ loyalties. And now with Hux holding the mind threads of millions of stormtroopers, it would not be long before he would confront the master of the Dark Side.

“You are the foundation of the First Order,” Hux began, his voice echoing through the amphitheater as it echoed through the troopers minds.

“Each of you are responsible for its victories against the treacherous Republic and the loathsome resistance. Without you, this new Empire would fall. And this is why your General needs you now.”

He let his words echo through Starkiller Base.

“My stormtroopers.”

“My TIE pilots.”

“My officers.”

“I offer my power, my influence, myself to you.”

“I will devote my life to your continued success to bring order to every corner of the galaxy.”

He took a breath.

“Snoke does not understand our delicate position in this time of victory. He sits on a throne in a far-off system and makes idle commands while we sweat and bleed and die for something he does not understand.”

“Today we take our control back. We shall put power back into the hands of the First Order.”

_It is time._

Hux dropped his hands and severed the Force threads.

He felt a chill down his spine despite his body burning with power.

Millions of stormtroopers stood with free minds looking at their Emperor.

“Stormtroopers, The True Power of the First Order,” he addressed. “I offer myself to you…as the new Emperor of the galaxy.”

The stormtroopers stood unwaveringly for a singular moment.

And then they knelt.

All of them.

The world spun around Hux as officers and soldiers alike bent on one knee to their new Emperor.

Hux raised his arms.

Two words echoed throughout the amphitheater from the First Order. He felt every syllable in his core.

“Hail, Emperor.”

Hux whirled around, a genuinely broad smile spreading across his face. It was an odd sensation, his muscles unfamiliar with any expression beyond a sneer.

He turned to face Mitaka. He wanted to see the pride on his Lieutenant’s face, on his lover’s face, at this unquestionable victory.

He looked back.

Mitaka was not standing behind him.

Hux reached out with his mind. The Force rushing out from him to search for the familiar gentle grey aura.

And found nothing.

Hux had heard the phrase “a disturbance in the Force” from Ren before. He had never stopped to consider what exactly that meant until now.

The disturbance came like  a vicious tidal wave interrupting the calm of a vast sea. The wave crashed into him, the weight of it nearly dropping him to his knees.

And with the turbulence came the sobbing screams of the man he loved.

The screams cut away sharply as did the disturbance, replacing Hux’s mind with an oppressive calmness. A deep, gravely voice purred within his mind.

_I believe it is time we have a chat, Emperor._


	4. Ashes to Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt:  
> When the double doors to the chamber hissed open, Mitaka lifted his head, only to be forced back down by Snoke’s clawed hand.  
> “General Hux,” Snoke hissed. “We were just talking about you.”  
> The familiar sharp click of boots echoed throughout the cave-like chamber.  
> " _Emperor_ Hux," Hux corrected, his voice cool and confident. Tears rolled down Mitaka’s cheeks as he heard his Emperor say, “And now that I am here, you can let my officer go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow us on Tumblr!  
> Writer: [White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist: [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 

Mitaka tried to wear a brave face.

He wanted to be brave…

“And he favors _you_ , does he?” Snoke purred, his clawed hand grazing Mitaka’s cheek.

The Lieutenant said nothing. He clenched his fists and lifted his chin slightly in hesitant defiance.

“My,” Snoke sneered, “you are _brave_ aren’t you, Lieutenant Mitaka.”

Snoke flung the word “brave” at him like an insult, reminding the Lieutenant that he was reading his mind.

It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t beg for his life. He would make his new Emperor proud.

“It matters not how brave you are, Lieutenant,” Snoke said. “One cannot tell the difference between a brave man’s screams and those of a coward.”

The moment Snoke placed a hand on Mitaka’s head, the pain began. It started in his fingertips and toes, slowly being pulled upwards through his body. He gritted his teeth, his body shuddering as the slicing pain traveled through his torso, clawing up his neck and settling in a singular agonizing point where Snoke’s palm pressed against his skull.

When Snoke lifted his hand, Mitaka felt the pain stretch beyond his body as if he were tethered to a long, exposed nerve. Snoke gesticulated as though wrapping an unseen nerve around his finger.

Mitaka managed to suppress a whimper as a second painful string was pulled from his body.

Yet, after a third and fourth and fifth string...

A tortured sound echoed within the comm chamber. It took a moment for the Lieutenant to realize the deafening noise was his own screams.

Snoke held one hand taut, the other plucking the air over Mitaka as though playing an unseen violin. Each movement of those gnarled fingers shot pain through Mitaka’s entire being. The pain sang like a macabre waltz, rhythmic and agonizing.

Mitaka felt no reprieve from the attacks. Each time the pain began to fade a new note would be struck, taking its place.

Mitaka did not know how long he had been on his knees. Hadn’t he been standing so _bravely_ just moments before?

His hands pressed hard against his temples, trying in vain to free himself of Snoke’s malicious melody.

But there was no end to it and time was starting to slip away...until…

_Where are you?_

Mitaka’s eyes shot open.

The sharp voice of Hux interrupted the painful symphony in his mind. For the briefest of moments, the pain was gone. Mitaka clung desperately to that singular instance of relief. He wanted to call out to Hux. To tell him where he was…

…and then he remembered why Snoke was torturing him in the first place. He realized he needed to tell Hux to run.

The words seized in his mind before he could focus on them. His vision blurred as Snoke strummed several agonizing chords. As a new chorus of screams were pulled from Mitaka, he heard Snoke’s voice echo within his head, though the words were directed at Hux.

_I believe it is time we have a chat, Emperor._

Another round of pain reverberated throughout Mitaka’s body. He felt something warm run down his nose, and he tasted metal.

 _It won’t be long now,_ Snoke cooed in his mind. _He will be joining us soon…he will be joining you soon._

A choked sob was all Mitaka could muster before collapsing to the cool tile floor of the comm chamber.

Blessed darkness began to take over his vision and the painful music faded into a thick fog.

He was letting go…

...drifting away…

Another powerful note shook his body, ripping him back into consciousness and pushing half-choked sobs from his raw throat.

 _No, sweet Lieutenant,_ Snoke echoed in his mind. _We are not finished with you. Not yet. Not until our guest has arrived._

Mitaka felt his body rise, an invisible force holding him upright on his knees. He stared helplessly at the tile below, longing to feel its coolness against his burning, tortured body. Sweat poured down his face or perhaps it was blood, he could not tell as the liquid splattered onto the black, shiny floor.

When the double-doors to the chamber hissed open, Mitaka lifted his head , only to be forced back down by Snoke’s clawed hand.

“General Hux,” Snoke hissed. “We were just talking about you.”

The familiar sharp click of boots echoed throughout the cave-like chamber.

“ _Emperor_ Hux,” Hux corrected, his voice cool and confident. Tears rolled down Mitaka’s cheeks as he heard his Emperor say , “And now that I am here, you can let my officer go.”

\-----

“…you can let my officer go.”

Hux kept his stride even, his tone clipped, and his expression mildly irritated.

Snoke stood on the platform at the end of the walkway. The tall and ghoulish spectre was dressed in dark robes, and his grey skin glowed in the dull light of the comm chamber. Through the Force, Hux could see a veil of blue mist gathered around Snoke like a ghastly aura. This same mist collected around Mitaka’s form, forcing him to kneel at Snoke’s feet.

Hux kept his expression sober even as Snoke ran a claw through Mitaka’s hair. “No, I believe I will keep him for now. His empathy, his fear, it is ... ” Snoke shivered, “delectable. You know this too, as I understand. Is this why you keep him close? To feed this growing need within you?”

The moment Hux took a step up on the platform, Snoke tightened his grip on Mitaka’s hair. Hux stopped short, still several feet away from the two. He cast a cold gaze at Mitaka, bloodied and weeping softly.

“The whelp means nothing to me,” he said, a tad too quickly.

“Doesn’t he?” Snoke asked, feigning surprise. The Supreme Leader released his hand from Mitaka’s hair and lifted it up, holding it steady. With his other hand he flicked a bony finger in the air above Mitaka’s head as though plucking a string. The Lieutenant let out a tired, ragged cry, his entire body convulsing for several agonizing moments before going limp again.

Hux clenched his jaw. The Force shrieked and clawed at his insides, desperate to be freed.

Snoke’s twisted face pulled into a crooked smile. “Ah, there it is. I can feel the rage writhing inside you. I am surprised, general. You have changed. Not only are you oozing with the Dark Side, but you have been feeding it nothing but sentiment for this…pup.” Snoke grabbed a fistful of Mitaka’s hair and raised the trembling man’s head, forcing him to look at Hux.

Hux, against his better judgement, looked back.

Blood trickled down the side of Mitaka’s ears, nose and mouth. Gone was the rosiness in his cheeks, which were now drawn and tear-stained. His once soulful, dark eyes were glazed over and bloodshot.

Hux said quietly. “I care nothing for him.”

“In that case, I suppose we have no further use for him,” Snoke said, extending his palm over the Lieutenant.

Mitaka shut his eyes, squeezing fresh tears from his face.

 _Bren_ , Mitaka called out to his mind. _I love y-..._ His screams tore through Hux’s brain like a hot vibroblade.

And Hux let out a feral snarl.

The Force acted before he could, raising his palms towards Snoke and unleashing a blast of energy from his core. It shot out his palms in the form of dozens of crimson cords slithering their way towards the Supreme Leader.

The blue mist surrounding Snoke suddenly thickened and made a wall around his sternum just as the serpents struck. The tendrils of energy bounced away harmlessly.

 _No_ ...Hux thought, the panic rising with him. _He didn’t fall…He...didn’t...fall..._

Palms still extended, Hux worked to conjure another wave of energy. He felt only a cold chill instead.

He had expelled everything in that attack…and it had done nothing.

“Is that the extent of your powers, young general?” Snoke croaked out a laugh. “How disappointing.”

Snoke made a casual gesture and the cerulean mist rolled towards Hux in thick clouds. It gathered quickly around Hux’s arms and legs, sinking into his muscles. He felt himself kneel, his arms forced behind him, wrists pinned against the small of his back. He bared his teeth in a grimace and struggled futilely as the Force-bindings held him firm.

“It is a shame,” Snoke said. “You would have made an impressive apprentice. We could have done great things together.”

With a second gesture, Snoke’s misty aura lifted Mitaka in the air, placing him kneeling just a few feet away from the bound Hux. Mitaka groggily lifted his head and upon seeing Hux his eyes grew wide with helpless terror.

That single terrified expression…it would be branded in Hux’s mind for as long as he lived, however short it may be.

 _I never wanted this._ Hux thought, unsure if Mitaka could even hear him. _I never wanted you to be involved. I wanted to protect you. I thought I could protect you._

Mitaka’s eyes began to close.

“We shall start with the pup. His time in this world was borrowed the moment he fell in love with you.” Snoke brushed loose strands from Mitaka’s sweat-soaked face. “And you…you were always doomed from the start, Hux…and I think Kylo Ren knew this too, even as he bequeathed to you the power of the Dark Side.”

Hux felt the blood drain from his face.

Snoke knew. He had always known. This plan was never going to succeed.

Snoke had won even before the game was played.

Which meant Kylo had already won, too…

And there was nothing Hux could do, but watch his love die in front of him.

Snoke tore a long agonized wail from Mitaka as his crooked fingers made soft plucking movements over the Lieutenant’s aura.

Anger gnarled within Hux as the bastard Snoke orchestrated his lover’s pain with a merciless grin.

Something sparked within him.

Then something stirred.

The Force began to uncoil, but it was too weak, too sluggish. He needed time.

But there was no time and that only enraged Hux more.

“Phel, stay awake,” Hux pleaded, struggling against the bonds of blue mist. “Focus on my voice. Listen to me.”

Mitaka began to convulse, his eyes rolling back into his head.

“Lieutenant!” Hux barked. “Eyes on me!”

Mitaka instinctively snapped to attention, his eyes glazed over in pain, but still trained on his Emperor.

Hux focused hard on the Force surrounding Mitaka. His gentle grey aura was stretched thin, flickering with brilliant, white light.

Hux heard a whisper inside his mind. _The light is his suffering._ It said. _Let us take it. We need it._

 _No_ , he said, turning away from the aura.

 _It is the only way. It is how we become strong,_ the voice argued. _The pain of others is what gives life to the true power of the Dark Side._

_I can't feed from him. Not like this._

_Then you let him suffer in vain?_

At that, Hux raised his head. He looked at Mitaka’s aura, which was slowly being consumed by the blinding light. Soon it would be all that was left.

Hux bared his teeth.

“No.”

What slivers of Force Hux had left slithered their way towards Mitaka’s aura. The moment they delved into the grey mist, Mitaka's tortured mind swelled within Hux’s core.

Agony tasted different than pleasure. It was thicker, more potent. It surged through him as the Dark Side greedily devoured it all. There was so much to consume. Mitaka had been tortured for far too long.

 _They are right,_ Hux realized. _We can’t let his pain go to waste. This is necessary. I need this._ We _need this..._

Hux felt something crack inside him. It pushed and thrashed around within him. It felt different from the Force that coiled around his center. This, he realized, was his center.

It was splintering.

It was dying.

It was being reborn.

And Snoke sensed it too.

“General,” Snoke said, his voice edging with irritation. “You are wasting your time. You have already lost.” As he extended his bony hands, more thick clouds of oppressive blue Force plumed around him.

“It is Emperor now,” Hux sneered, power pulsing within him, “and this fight has barely begun.”

The Force that burst forth from Hux’s center took both him and Snoke by surprise.

The long, thick tendril was impenetrably dark and slithered through the air like an insidious viper. Snoke took a step back, gathering up another misty barrier as the serpentine energy reared up inches from his chest. It moved in a hypnotic sway for several moments, and then it struck. It pierced through the Force-shield effortlessly, hitting Snoke in the chest and sending his frail body hurtling backwards.

The vaporous bindings that held Hux and Mitaka dissipated and the threads that tortured Mitaka’s mind vanished. Mitaka’s eyes shot open and took in a long, ragged breath, gasping for air. Hux lunged for him as he collapsed, catching the Lieutenant in his arms.

“I have you.” Hux held him close. Mitaka’s body dripped with sweat. He shivered against Hux, weakly gripping his uniform.

“I’m going to take care of this,” Hux whispered, wiping away Mitaka’s drenched locks. “I will make this right.”

Mitaka uttered something too soft to be heard.

Hux’s soft expression towards Mitaka hardened as Snoke began to stir. He felt the Force-viper lash and writhe within him, begging to be released again for a second strike. This time the Force felt different. It now relied on Hux’s fury to fuel its power. And as his love wept softly in his arms, Hux had plenty to feed the Dark Side.

Without taking his eyes off Snoke, Hux laid Mitaka gently on the ground.

“This ends now, Snoke,” he said, evenly.

Snoke staggered to his feet with a haggard laugh. “You are dealing with powers you cannot comprehend, general.”

Hux stood up slowly and straightened out his uniform. With a flick of his wrist, he smoothed back the few loose strands of hair. “Oh, I don’t know about that, Snoke,” he said, adjusting his gloves. “You would be surprised what I can comprehend these days.”

Snoke snarled and raised his arms as blue smoke continuously poured from his gnarled fingers. The Force-powered mist poured into the comm stations around the chamber, gathering around tables, chairs, and monitors. As he turned his palms up, every object in the room rose in the air.

When the first chair flew towards Hux, he did not break his stride. The viper burst from his core and deflected it effortlessly. The table that came next was knocked away as well. When several monitors flew towards him, only one caught him in the cheek. As hot blood trickled down his face, the viper hissed and squirmed within him, feeding off the pain.

And he kept walking, his eyes never wavering from the Supreme Leader.

With a roar of frustration, Snoke lifted his arms higher. This time all the Force-risen objects flew towards Hux in a deadly tornado. He did not slow. He did not blink. He only stopped moving as he was buried beneath the falling debris.

But only for a moment...

Crimson tendrils whipped around Hux, shoving and slicing and crumbling away all that crowded him. Effortlessly, the Force around Hux sent the debris hurtling towards Snoke, who drew up a weak barrier, but not before the debris came crashing down upon him.

His path unobstructed, Hux resumed his approach. He embraced the pain the comm station avalanche caused him. He grabbed his bloody arm that hung limp at his side and squeezed, sending a dull throbbing pain to his ravenous core. Shards of pain shot through his shin at each step. He licked the blood away from his split lip. But he kept walking.

Snoke crawled ungracefully from the pieces of metal and plastic that had assaulted him.

“Impossible!” He spat green blood on the dark tiles. “You are nothing. You are a child playing with a rabid nexu. You do not know what power means. What the Dark Side truly means.”

Hux knelt down next to Snoke, his icy eyes boring into those putrid orbs. “I am a quick study.” he said, tilting his head. “Would you like to see what I’ve learned today?”

As he extended his gloved hand, Snoke’s threads seemed to pull eagerly towards him. As if they wanted to be played.

“Let’s see what beautiful music we can make together, Snoke. I have just the piece in mind.”

\-----  
Hux knelt on the ground next to Mitaka and gingerly gathered his lover in his arms. Mitaka’s eyes were closed, his eyelids twitching as though trapped in a nightmare. After what Snoke had done to him, he probably was. Hux could see the grey aura shift and thunder around him.

With a steady hand, Hux traced an infinity symbol across Mitaka’s forehead in a long, slow pattern. He watched the Lieutenant’s dark, slender eyebrows knit for a moment before relaxing. Hux closed his eyes and focused on a singular memory, gently pouring it into Mitaka’s troubled mind.

_Hux is huddled in the Officer’s Lounge. He swims in a drunken state, perfectly content to drown so long as he doesn’t have to see the dead eyes of Kylo Ren in his sleep ever again. He feels someone sling his arm around their neck and lift him to his feet. His head lolls to the side, landing on their shoulder. They smell of fresh linen and a spiced aftershave. He breathes it in. It comforts him as he is taken to his quarters. He feels its absence as he is lowered onto his bed._

_A soft, deep voice with a light Imperial-borne accent says to him, “Do you require anything else, sir?”_

_Hux grunts in response. He doesn’t want to speak; his mouth is a desert, yet his brain feels like it’s being pulled into an undertow. He wants to succumb…_

_A soft hand glides over his forehead. He flinches, but as the fingers stroke his forehead he lets go._

_“My mother used to do this for me when I had nightmares.” The gentle voice soothes Hux’s nerves._

_He still doesn’t want to speak, yet he asks. “What did you dream?”_

_The voice let out a soft chuckle. “That the old Empire would blow up our planet.”_

_He wants the voice to keep talking. He never wants it to stop. “And yet you joined the First Order?”_

_“We are not the old Empire, sir,” he said. His fingers trace a shape on Hux’s forehead, a figure-eight...no, it is thinner...like an infinit_ _y_ _sign. “And Lothal was the first planet to support the First Order. Afterall, it was the First Order that helped re-terraform the planet to undo the damage of the Empire’s occupancy. How could we not be loyal? Especially after the Republic did nothing to help us.” His words still held a bitterness towards the Republic. It was a comforting tone._

_“We are lucky to have you, officer,” Hux said, drifting off to sleep._

_“Mitaka…” The voice whispered. “Lieutenant Mitaka at your service, sir.”_

Mitaka took a deep breath. His aura calmed and drifted around him in a contented haze. The threads within his mind, once dangerously frayed, slowly pulled themselves together, coiling tightly where they should be.

When Mitaka’s eyes fluttered a moment, Hux’s heart seized. He had never noticed just how long Mitaka’s eyelashes were. He felt the urge to brush his lips against them. He wanted to kiss his way down those tear-stained face and lap up the salt. He needed to cleanse him, to return that innocent blush to his cheeks. He would break Snoke’s mind all over again if he could undo the damage done to his Lieutenant.

“I’m here,” Hux breathed.

Mitaka looked at him with glazed eyes.

“The med-droids will be here soon,” he continued, ignoring the whispers of the crimson Force within him, begging to feed on Mitaka’s lingering pain. “You’re going to be alright.”

A faint smile spread across Mitaka’s pale lips and he pressed his forehead against Hux’s chest, passing out once more.

\-----

When Mitaka finally awoke in the medbay, he did not recognize the man sitting next to him.

The man’s face was buried in his hands. His vibrant red hair hung unkempt. He wore a grey tank shirt and black slacks, the shirt revealing pale skin over a lean, solid frame. Rosy scars puckered and lined the otherwise smooth, freckled skin. When Mitaka moved to sit up, the man’s head rose.

Mitaka held his breath.

A thin, scruffy beard covered Hux’s high-cheekboned face with gold and red hair. His eyes still held their red-rimmed appearance, as he was no stranger to lack of sleep, but his eyes…they looked different. The cold icy film over his blue orbs had all but melted away and a pair of warm azure pools stared back at him.

They looked beautiful.

 _He_ looked beautiful.

“Bren?” Mitaka asked, hardly believing his eyes. “How long was I out?”

“Three days,” Hux said, stiffening in his chair, reflexively straightening out his tank shirt and running a hand to smooth down his disorderly red locks.

Mitaka’s head throbbed, his muscles ached. He felt as though he had been…

 _Like I’ve been ripped apart from the inside-out?_ He shuddered.

“Snoke...is he...” he swallowed hard, letting the words hang in the air.

“He is dead,” Hux said flatly. A dark shadow crossed over Hux’s face. “I made sure of that.”

“How did he-”

“It’s of no concern.” Hux said, scratching his beard and scowling as though he had only just realized the state he was in. “I dealt with him. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Did you...stay here the whole time?” Mitaka asked.

Hux blinked. “Of course I did. I needed to be here when you woke up. Besides,” he said, quietly, “I am responsible for this.”

“You aren’t,” but even as Mitaka said this, Hux held up a hand.

“We aren’t discussing this now. I did not sit here for three days waiting for you to wake up , only to pretend that I did not just put you in danger for my own personal gain.” Hux rubbed his face and rose from his chair.

“Wait,” Mitaka said, sitting up in the plush white bed, realizing for the first time that he was shirtless. He blushed, embarrassed to reveal his thin, pale form to Hux for the first time like this.

Instead of leaving, however, Hux sat on the edge of the bed. He opened his mouth to say something, but then dropped his eyes.

Mitaka’s heart sank. Never had he seen Hux turn away like this. He was the kind of man who made others break eye contact from _him_ . Yet this unnaturally disheveled man looked nervous and flushed and so very tired. Mitaka felt a pang of guilt. He had done this to him. If only he had been stronger. If he had resisted Snoke’s lure to the comm chamber none of this would have happened.

_I am a liability. Of course he is leaving me. It would be to protect me, right?_

Mitaka drew himself up, mustering up whatever bravery he had left. “I understa-”

“Marry me.”

Mitaka’s felt the world freeze around him. “What?” he said dumbly.

Hux gathered Mitaka’s hands in his own. “I am Emperor now, which means I will be leaving for Coruscant for the coronation soon. I want you to be there with me. And I want it to be our wedding day.” A pink hue rose in Hux’s cheek and ears. “If...you will have me.”

Mitaka leaned back, dumfounded and positively speechless.

And of course he would marry Hux. _Of course_ , he would.

Then why did the words stick in his throat?

“Bren…” Mitaka said slowly. “What Snoke said about you feeding off my emotions…is it true? Is that the real reason why you need me?”

Hux’s eyes flashed at Mitaka for a brief moment. There was a sudden glint of…no, it was just a trick of the light. Hux’s eyes were clearly crystalline blue. “Yes, it is true,” Hux replied. “You have unlocked a part of me that I could not have on my own. But that is not why I wish to marry you.” He squeezed Mitaka’s hands gently. They felt warm, unnaturally warm. “That’s not why I love you.”

Mitaka felt the heat rise in his face. Tears welled in his eyes.

“Marry me, Dopheld Mitaka. Rule the galaxy with me. I do not want to do this alone. I do not want to do any of this without you.”

“Yes,” Mitaka breathed. “I will.”

Hux pressed his mouth against Mitaka’s lips, his whiskers tickling the Lieutenant’s smooth skin. A playful smile pulled at Mitaka’s cheeks. “I like the beard. It suits you.”

Hux scoffed and scratched at his face again. “This was not my intention. I’ll…keep it for now…until the coronation. Then it’s coming off. Don’t get used to it.”

Mitaka forced out a smile, which faded as quickly as it appeared. He dropped his gaze. “Bren, are we safe now? Without Snoke, you are the last Dark Force-user in the galaxy? There’s no one left to…oppose you?”

It _must_ have been a trick of the light, except there it was again, a ring of yellow surfacing in Hux’s blue eyes.

Hux raised Mitaka’s hands to his lips and kissed them. “ You are safe, that I promise you. On my life, I will never allow harm to come to you again.”

It was unmistakable. Hux’s calmed blue orbs died before Mitaka’s very eyes, and a pair of yellow irises took their place.

“I will destroy worlds before I let that happen.”

And Mitaka realized how honest and terrifying those words truly were.

\-----

**And to lighten the mood a bit! FesteringSilence's bonus art!**

Mitaka pops his head up to see Hux is beating the crap outta Snoke! "Go get him, Senpai!" He squees and holds up a 10/10 for Badassery!


	5. Yearning for Heaven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux has won.  
> The Supreme Leader is dead.  
> The galaxy hails him as Emperor of Worlds.  
> And today he marries the love of his life.  
> And what's more the persistent gnawing of the Dark Side within him has all but ceased. For the first time in Hux's life, he knows what it is to be truly happy.  
> He hopes this feeling lasts...
> 
>  **Chapter Excerpt:**  
>  As he half-listened to the polite babble of the ambassadors gathered around him, Hux's eyes scanned the dance floor to look for Mitaka. He found him surrounded by admirers. He blushed as they doted on him with drinks and various fruits. He beamed brightly as they laughed at his jokes. He chattered ceaselessly as they sat enraptured with every word. Mitaka’s aura through it all was a pillowy grey puff of pure happiness.  
> Yet it was not Mitaka’s contentment that held Hux’s interest. He was more focused on the vivid green auras that permeated off of his admirers as their rising lusty appetites grew the longer they lingered around Hux’s groom.  
>  _He is mine._ Hux thought, a ferocious rancor scraping at his insides.  
>  The jealous storm within him roused the sleeping Force.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow us on tumblr!  
> Writer, Co-Creator: White-Rainbowff [White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist, Co-Creator: FesteringSilence [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 

Millions of voices chanted the chorus of “Hail, Emperor” within the great amphitheater on Coruscant.

Of course they did.

What other choice did they have?

The crowd’s individual auras billowed together to form a thick violet mist of adoration, peppered black with an underlying spice of fear. They had reason to fear the man that stood above them, he did kill their Supreme Leader. Yet, he assured them, they had more cause to celebrate, for Emperor Hux had pledged to protect the galaxy from the tyranny of oppressors like Snoke. As long as the galaxy continued to show their loyalty to the First Order, as long as they accepted fully that their Emperor knows what is best for them, peace will prevail.

And those who fall to disorder shall be dealt with swiftly.

The wedding ceremony soon followed the coronation. It took place in the courtyard of the imperial grand estate in the company of diplomats, ambassadors and royalty hailing from the far-reaches of the galaxy.

Hux stood beneath an archway lined with Arkanis Laurels, white flowers speckled with red, donning a crisp white uniform. Rows of golden cords were embroidered across the jacket, woven in long fluid designs encircling solid gold ornate buttons. A scarlet sash was draped across his chest where an aiguillette was pinned to a First Order signet over his heart. Beneath his fur-lined pelisse, Hux’s arm rested upon the pommel of a ceremonial sword belted at his side.

Mitaka came into view at the end of the aisle dressed in a similar white uniform sans the pelisse. He also wore upon his soft face a stoic expression in an attempt to match his Imperial Groom. Still, despite his best efforts, Mitaka’s eyes sparkled at the sight of Hux. And when a small grin pulled across Hux's stern face, Mitaka burst into a dazzling smile that took the new Emperor’s breath away. He marched down the aisle at a quick pace out-of-sync with the gentle beat of drums and the croon of horns eager to be at Hux’s side.

They held hands during the ceremony, or rather Mitaka grabbed his groom’s hands and Hux did not pull away.

As Hux looked into the glittering eyes of his husband-to-be, a strange calm came over him. No constant need gnawed within him. No craving for power. No hunger for pain or pleasure. His heart swelled with an unfamiliar, euphoric light. And the smile he wore on his face, that broadened when the minister confirmed their marriage, was surprisingly genuine.

He felt...good.

At the minister’s prompt, Hux cupped Mitaka’s tear-stained face in his white-gloved hands and kissed those soft lips deeply. In that moment he truly believed he would never love another man like he loved his husband.

And for a time this was true...

\-----

Hux knew his reign over the galaxy would be one of balances. Even as the coronation took place, Hux could feel the reservation in the crowd. Fear threatened to prevail over the collective awe in his subjects. Yet now, at his wedding reception within the grand ballroom, Hux watched the fear in his guests’ minds begin to dissipate all thanks to his new husband.

Lieutenant Mitaka (for he refused anything higher than a rank he felt he deserved) flitted around the ballroom like a butterfly happily lost in a botanical garden. Bright and personable, enthusiastic and honest, Mitaka pulled smiles from even the most skeptical guests. As he fluttered from one group of guests to the next, a diplomat, from time to time, would catch Hux’s eye and raise their glass to the new Emperor as if to say “well done with this one.”

A smile spread across Hux’s lips watching his husband charm the ballroom effortlessly. A warmth spread through his chest, and he ached for Mitaka despite knowing he already had him. It was a beautiful ache, however, a feeling he wanted to covet while it lasted. So strange to feel this sort of contentment for such a length of time.

Meanwhile the Force continued to remain eerily still for the time being. It should have bothered him. He had grown so used to that persistent gnawing feeling that he almost resented its absence.

 _No, I have to enjoy this. This is my wedding day. Who knows how long this feeling will last._ Hux took another sip of the Nabooian Red, the dry and oaky liquid pouring over his tongue. _Please, let this feeling last._

As he half-listened to the polite babble of the ambassadors gathered around him, Hux's eyes scanned the dance floor to look for Mitaka. He found him surrounded by admirers. He blushed as they doted on him with drinks and various fruits. He beamed brightly as they laughed at his jokes. He chattered ceaselessly as they sat enraptured with every word. Mitaka’s aura through it all was a pillowy grey puff of pure happiness.

Yet it was not Mitaka’s contentment that held Hux’s interest. He was more focused on the vivid green auras that permeated off of his admirers as their rising lusty appetites grew the longer they lingered around Hux’s groom.

 _He is mine._ Hux thought, a ferocious rancor scraping at his insides.

The jealous storm within him roused the sleeping Force.

_He is ours._ The Viper agreed. _Go to him. Wrap your arms around him. Slip a hand into his pants and pull out his cock. Show the officers as you stroke him that he was made to please only you. Let them watch your husband moan for you. Remind them the kind of power you possess and that they will never have._

Hux swallowed hard, yearning to resurrect that blissful contentment that had consumed him just moments ago, before being drowned out by his tainted core.

_Take him._

Downing the rest of his wine, Hux made his way across the ballroom, handing the glass to a waiter as he passed. He kept his eyes trained on Mitaka, ignoring the nods and bows of ambassadors and royalty alike as he reached the small gathering around his husband.

The young officers and noblemen all stiffened to attention as they saw Hux approach, stuttering respectful addresses of “Your Highness” and “Your Greatness” which he ignored.

All he cared about was the way Mitaka spun around to face his Emperor.

The rosiness in his cheek, the sparkle in his eyes. The soft smile on that small, perfect mouth was breathtaking.

 _Pull him into your lap._ The Viper urged. _Face him to his admirers while you make him fuck your hand. Draw out those delicious sounds that only you can pull from him. Let them know..._

Hux clicked his heels together and bowed gracefully, extending an arm. “Gentlemen, I would like to steal my husband away for more...urgent matters.” He flashed a wolfish smile at Mitaka..

“If you’ll excuse me.” Mitaka nodded to the officers and took Hux’s arm. The officers bowed respectfully while their auras flashed with thunderous resentment.

“My lord,” Mitaka said, a quirky smile upon his face. “Where are we going?”

Hux said nothing, pulling Mitaka close as they ascended the grand staircase, going left towards the guest wing.

“We are not going to our bed chambers?” Mitaka asked as they passed through the double-doors leading down the empty hallway.

“And spend the next twenty minutes waiting for an elevator to take us a hundred stories high? I have already waited too long for this moment.”

Hux took Mitaka’s hand and lead him into one of the guest rooms occupied by a single large bed.

The door hissed close behind them.

Hux turned around.

Mitaka was trembling, his aura a churning cloud colored with a soft green tint of need.

“Bren…”

That soft cadence soothed every fiber of Hux’s being. All he could do was gaze at this beautiful man and wonder what he did to deserve this.

Moonlight coupled by the lanterns in the courtyard filled the room with a dim light. The blush of Mitaka’s cheeks surfaced in the half-light as he slowly, silently, unfastened each golden button of his jacket.

Hux held his breath. He wanted to remember every second of this moment. The scent of lavender in the room. The way the moonlight illuminated Mitaka’s pale skin. The hum of conversation and light music drifting into the room from the open balcony window. The curve of muscles flexing along Mitaka’s chest and arms as he worked his way out of the uniform. The dark hair that trailed down his subtly sculpted abdomen and encircled the base of a long and slender cock. Mitaka stepped out of the ring of clothes at his feet, dark eyes shining with need, pale body exposed, his cock hard and ready for his Emperor.

Hux reached up to unbutton the first button of his pelisse, but Mitaka gently pushed his hands down and set to helping him out of his uniform. Mitaka’s deft fingers glided over his body as he peeled away layer after layer, his fingers grazing Hux’s skin without lingering too long in any one place. Mitaka’s fingers brush against his shoulders to peel off Hux’s jacket. They quickly undid Hux’s trousers, but lingered briefly over the bulge in Hux’s underclothes before pulling them down as well.

Mitaka saved the gloves for last. His teeth delicately gripped the tips of the glove and pulled on the satin fabric. One finger. A second finger. Entranced, Hux watched his husband’s lips and teeth and fingers all working dutifully to strip him bare.

“I love you, Phel,” Hux breathed as the gloves fell to the floor. He touched Mitaka’s waist with his naked hands and guided him backwards towards the bed.

Mitaka stretched out on the bed, allowing Hux to part his legs and kneel between them. As Hux picked up the scented oil from the night stand, Mitaka sat up. “Wait,” he said plucking the bottle from Hux’s hand, “let me.”

The liquid dripped over Mitaka’s fingers from the small black bottle. Hux marveled at how perfectly Mitaka kept his demure blush as he ran his hands over Hux’s cock, coating it thoroughly before leaning back and running his fingers over his entrance. With a quiet gasp, Mitaka spread his legs farther and slipped a slick finger inside himself, moaning and never taking his eyes off his Emperor.

“Please Bren,” he whispered, squirming against his own finger. “I need you inside me...I’ve wanted this for so long.”

Hux wasted no time leaning down and hooking his arms under the Lieutenant’s legs, yanking him closer and lifting Mitaka’s ass in the air. He pressed his dripping cockhead against Mitaka’s entrance and pushed slightly, waiting for his husband to be ready.

With a deep breath, Mitaka uttered “I love you, Bren,” then exhaled heavily, allowing his entire body to relax.

Hux pressed his tip into Mitaka. He could feel the Dark Side urge him to plunge deep into the Lieutenant. Instead he indulged in the feeling of Mitaka’s muscles contracting and relaxing around his shaft as Hux worked his hips in a slow rhythm. Ripples of energy coursed through his body as Hux worked his shaft a little deeper with each push, the wet noises of the movement adding to the heavy breathing of his and his groom.

The moment his cock brushed Mitaka’s prostate, Mitaka let out a strangled gasp, his arms rising over his head, gripping the pillow. Hux angled himself ever so slightly, taking care not to press it too hard, not just yet.

“W...We have to close the window.” Mitaka panted.

Hux hid his smile. “Why, my love?”

“Someone...may hear-”

A hard thrust to that beautiful spot cut off Mitaka’s words, replacing them with a loud deep moan.

Outside, the buzz of conversation continued, the music still played, but Hux could sense the curiosity drifting from the guests’ auras into the room. With a second thrust, he indulged in a guttural groan of his own, making sure the sound carried out into the courtyard for all to hear.

Arms stretched over him, Mitaka turns his head and bit hard into his bicep, muffling the sounds he couldn’t hold in any longer the harder Hux thrusted.

“No, my love,” Hux said, and nearly pulled out entirely, shivering at the needy whine his sudden absence brought out of Mitaka. “Let them hear you.”

Mitaka pulled away from his bicep with a whimper, his small mouth slack and wet. The moment he withdrew, he was rewarded with another deep thrust. In turn, Hux was rewarded with his groom’s chest-born cry of pleasure that echoed through the room and traveled into the night air.

 _They are starting to gather outside._ Hux heard the Force whisper to him. _We can feel their curiosity. We hear their want for more._

It was true, Hux could feel the minds of those gathering beneath the room. Women and men, some giggling uncomfortably, others blushing, and others still held their breath as the sounds within the Emperor’s guest room grew more passionate.

“Louder.” Hux grabbed Mitaka’s cock and began to pump it hard, drawing out more cries from his Lieutenant. “Let them know who makes you feel this way.”

“E...Emperor!” Mitaka moaned, his heels digging into Hux’s back, pulling him deeper, his hips squirming desperately. “Emperor, please…don’t stop.”

 _They want more._ Hux felt the words caress his core. The Force whipped around in a frenzy, consuming Mitaka’s ecstasy and the growing excitement outside their window. _Take him outside._ It whispered to him. _Bend him over the railing. Let the party see you conquer this small man like you conquered their galaxy._

Hux’s cock pulsated within Mitaka at the thought.

_Let the crowd watch him struggle against you, gripping the railing, trying to get away and yet begging you not to stop._

It would be so easy. Hux could do it. There was no one to stop him. He could feel the frenzy rising outside. They would look on him with envy and reverence. They would want him. They _all_ would want him.

“Bren…” Mitaka gasped, his voice lower as though keeping Hux’s first name for himself, away from their audience. “I’m so close…”

_Flip him over. Grab his hair and fuck him like someone of his status was meant to be fucked. Tear him open. Leave him bruised and ruined and sobbing for you to do it all over again…_

Hux grinded his teeth and looked down at the beautiful porcelain creature writhing beneath him, those dark eyes glazed with complete and utter adoration for his Emperor.

_No. I can’t. He trusts me to keep him safe. Even from me._

Still, the carnal urges thrashed within him. That primitive need to conquer and ravage burned relentlessly within. He kept his attention on the warmth billowy aura that permeated off of Mitaka, untainted by any trace of fear.

 _I promised I would always keep him safe, and I meant it_.

With a final lash of protest, the Viper fell quiet.

Hux shut his eyes. “Come for me, my love,” he whispered, trying to focus on Mitaka’s tight muscles contracting around his own shaft, on those luscious moans, and on the love he had felt swelling within him earlier for his new husband.

_And yet somehow it isn’t enough, is it?_

“I...Bren…” Mitaka gripped the wooden beams of the headboard and squeezed his legs tight around Hux. “I’m coming!” He repeated this over and over, pearls of white falling onto his belly as his entire body shivered.

Hux bent over, giving a few more thrusts before half-heartedly coming himself. His belly burned with it, the need to come fully and completely as his husband, but instead he just felt empty.

_He holds us back. We are not like him. Not anymore._

Hux wished he could blame the Viper for those thoughts, but the words were more his own.

“I love you, Bren,” Mitaka panted. Tears welled in his heavy-lidded eyes and his chest heaved, glistening with sweat and come.

“I love you,” Hux said.

And for a time this was true...

\-----

_We are not like him. Not anymore._

Hux laid in bed with an arm draped loosely around Mitaka who curled against him, head laying on his chest and snoring lightly. He ran an idle hand along the curve of his husband’s back, the words plaguing his mind.

He longed to feel that inexplicable light that kept the Viper within him quiet. He plucked at the memories trying to revive that overwhelming surge of joy.

_Mitaka beaming brighter than a star when he walked down the aisle._

_Mitaka taking his hands at the altar._

_Mitaka’s soft lips brushing against his for their first marital kiss._

Yet for all his efforts, Hux felt a vast hole in his soul. The more he reached to grasp those rare moments of complete bliss, the farther the feelings seem to drift away.

And the farther the distance, the more questions filled his head. Questions he didn’t want to answer.

_Was the power of the Force with us today when we experienced these “rare moments of bliss?”_

Hux felt an icy chill wash over his body.

 _No,_ he conceded, _it wasn’t._

_We experienced the Light Side, Emperor, and it weakens us._

_Is that what you want? To become impotent with the curse of the Light?_

Hux felt tears prick his eyes. “No…” he whispered into the darkness.

_Then what are you going to do about it?_

Hux kissed Mitaka’s forehead and gently worked his way out of his embrace. He slipped on his white trousers, half-heartedly buttoning them before walking outside onto the balcony.

Sucking in the cool night air, Hux leaned heavily against the railing, looking out into the softly lit courtyard. The gardens were empty save for the distant glitter of a guardsman’s lantern. The only sounds in the air were the faint chirp of crickets and his own heavy breath.

The weight of the emptiness within him was overwhelming. There was nothing around him to draw energy from, nothing to reassure himself that he was still powerful. The Dark Side had been threatened by today’s events. He could have lost everything to the Light...to Mitaka…

Part of him resented the beautiful man sleeping inside the guest room. He resented falling in love with something so pure and so untouched by any form of the Force.

_He holds us back…_

Hux gripped the railing. _He is not a threat to us or our power._

 _He threatens everything we are._ The Viper whispered back. _He holds us back from what we want. He fears the Dark Side within you just as you fear unleashing your true desires around him._

 _They are not my desires,_ Hux thought.

_Aren’t they?_

Hux pressed his forehead against the coolness of the rail. He felt the truth of it gutting his insides, leaving him empty and wanting and-

The air rushed out of his lungs as an icy chill flooded his body.

There was a disturbance in the Force and it was standing just a few feet behind him.

The Viper within him lashed about excitedly.

“Ren…” Hux snarled.

“Emperor.” The demon’s voice dripped with a dark sweetness.

Hux did not want to turn around. He didn’t want to give Ren the satisfaction nor did he want to give into the rising excitement from his core and...other parts of him. Yet, he found himself turning anyway.

The demon leaned casually in the doorway of the guest room. His long torso stretched out, accentuated with rippling muscles sculpting to perfection. One arm extended over him, the hand gliding along the doorway, the other held the stem of his Ren-like masquerade mask.

Though his mask covered his face, Hux could sense the sardonic smile behind it. “I believe congratulations are in order.”

“Yes, they are,” Hux said. “I have won.”

The mask dropped down and Hux hated how his heart pounded just a little harder at seeing those red-ringed golden eyes stare into his soul, those full lips curving into a hungry smile. His movements were quiet, the only sound in the air was the gentle friction of silk against the demon’s skin as the loincloth brushed against his groin. Pushing away curiosity of what lay beneath the demon’s loincloth, Hux glared into the demon’s haunting orbs. He stood his ground though, with his back pressing against the railing, he conceded he had no option to retreat even if he wanted. He suddenly wished he had worn a shirt.

The demon’s hands brushed Hux’s bare arms as they gripped the railing on either side of his waist, pinning him without touching him. Heat emanated off the demon’s skin, warding off the coolness of the air. Hux stood stiff, resisting the urge to press against that scalding source.

“Shouldn’t you be inside with your new groom celebrating then, rather than out here yearning for me?”

Hux bristled. “I do not yearn for you. I came out here to get some air.”

“Curious,” Kylo tilted his head and leaned in closer. He was a fraction of an inch from Hux’s skin and yet still did not touch him. “I felt everything in that room...and it seemed as though the young pup left you…” he licked his lips. “...wanting.”

Sweat trickled down Hux’s forehead, down his back, a needful fever boiling in his brain. He pushed a skeptical arch onto his brow. “You felt everything? Then you would know that my husband satisfied me.”

“And yet the Viper says otherwise.”

Hux blinked. Only he referred to his core as the Viper. He finally acknowledged the frantic thrashing of the serpentine energy within him and opened himself up to see Kylo’s aura.

The moment he did, it all became horrifyingly clear.

Hundreds of tendrils swayed and flicked around Kylo like a knot of venomous vipers. These were not the skinny tendrils that came to Hux’s call. These were thick, black vipers identical to the singular entity that Hux struggled to keep under control.

“You can feel everything I feel…” Hux said slowly, beginning to understand.

Kylo sneered, baring pearly fangs. “Of course I can, _your greatness_. It is my power you hold within your core. I can feel every pang of hunger.” Kylo’s breath was hot against Hux’s neck and this time Hux could not suppress the pleasurable shiver that coursed through his body. “And I know when you lack satisfaction.”

“Back away, demon,” Hux snarled, despite the growing need twitching in his trousers. “If I need to be satisfied it will not be by the likes of you.”

Several black tendrils whipped around Kylo’s aura and wrapped around Hux’s throat, winding their way down to his arms and thighs. The energy thrummed with such power that it vibrated every part of Hux’s being. As he struggled he found they gave no leeway. Kylo merely smiled and glided a red fingertip down Hux’s chest bringing forth small vibrations under his skin. Hux let out a soft moan before he could stop himself.  

“You cannot deny you ache for more than this,” Kylo purred, he swayed his hips back and forth with an unbearable gentleness, brushing against Hux’s strained member. “You cannot deny that the fragile creature sleeping inside that room can never give you what I could.”

Hux forced out a laugh to keep himself from panting needily. “I would think a demon such as yourself would not give into petty jealousy.”

A grin spread across the demon’s lips as they ventured closer to Hux’s. “To be jealous,” he whispered, “I would have to fear the prospect of never having you. For now I will bide my time until I can claim you.”

“You...will never have me,” Hux said, resisting every urge to give in and press against that devilish mouth. He longed to feel that forked tongue explore him, for those fangs to cut his lip, to share his blood with this creature. “I am already Emperor. I have already won.”

The tendrils massaged Hux’s thighs and arms, sending pulses of energy through him. He arched his back and let out a soft cry.

 _Just give in. Just admit that we belong with him._ The Viper begged.  

“It appears you have, Emperor.” Kylo conceded and with a flick of his wrist, the tendrils withdrew from Hux’s body. Their sudden absence brought out a strangled whimper from Hux that he could not hold back, his body feeling cold and abandoned. He braced himself against the railing, panting, but maintaining his defiant glare at the demon.

“And as you have won,” Kylo continued, “you will no longer have need of the Dark Side.” He reached out to Hux, “I shall free you of this burden if you so wish.”

Hux slapped Kylo’s hand away. “You think me a fool? You don’t think I noticed the subtle caveats of our deal? I know that if I lose my seat as Emperor you will count it as a failure. And what better way to endanger my position than by taking away the power that put me here in the first place? I will do nothing to risk my Empire. I took the galaxy with the Force and I will rule over it with the Force.”

The vipers flailed wildly around Kylo as the demon’s rage built. “You know not the powers you control, _Emperor._ You have yet to give in completely to the hunger. It will consume you as it consumes us all. Are you truly prepared for what that means?”

Hux laughed. “If you truly have felt everything I have experienced in this time you would know I have endured the hunger and dealt with it.”

Kylo grabbed a fistful of Hux’s hair and yanked his head back, placing his other hand against Hux’s sternum again. Hux felt a mixture of panic and thrill coursed through him as those claws pressed hard against his skin, threatening to puncture him at any moment. Blood rushed in his ears and his scalp exploded in bright pain. He gripped the railing and focused on maintaining his harsh gaze at the demon.

Kylo’s velvety cadence did not come from those sinister lips, but instead echoed within Hux’s mind. “Those peckish pains you experienced are nothing compared to what is to come.” The full weight of the demon’s body pressed against Hux, pinning him to the rail. Kylo’s voice now boomed in Hux’s head and sent tremors down his body, confusing his senses, increasing his need. “I won’t offer this again, my pet. Do you concede your power?”

 _Please,_ The Viper screamed. _Let him take us. We need him. He can satisfy what we desire. We know he can._

Hux grinded his teeth hard and shut his eyes, picturing the smiling face of Mitaka walking down the aisle.

_Mitaka’s eyes sparkle at the sight of Hux. When a small grin pulls across Hux's stern face, Mitaka bursts into a dazzling smile._

Hux opened his eyes, lifting his chin in defiance. “You get nothing from me, demon. My power is my own.”

The demon held Hux for a long moment before finally releasing him and taking a step back. The masquerade mask corporealized in his hand once again as he backed away.

“As you wish,” Kylo said, with neither a hint of anger nor mockery in his voice. “Long live Emperor Hux.”

In an instant the black tendrils enveloped Kylo’s body until there was nothing left but faint traces of ebon vapor.

Several moments ticked by…

Only when he felt it was safe did Hux fall to his knees and gasp for air.

With shaking hands he unfastened his trousers and brought out his cock that ached painfully for attention. He bit hard into his fist, stifling desperate moans as he pumped his shaft into his hand. Images of Kylo bending him over the railing and plunging inside him flooded his senses.

_Hot breath on the back of Hux’s neck. A clawed hand digs into his chest as the other strokes him mercilessly. Fangs sink into his shoulder, the pain consuming him as Kylo pumps into him again and again._

Biting hard into his knuckles, he let out a muffled sob as he came hard in his hand. His entire body shook with the effort of it. It had been a long time since he felt such a relief of release, if ever at all.

With a ragged breath, Hux leaned back against the balcony rail. He was in a sorry state, his pants undone, cock limp and spent, satisfied more with thoughts of a demon than his own husband.

 _I will never yield._ He swore to himself. _I will stay true to my galaxy. I will protect my husband. I will be the Emperor that the galaxy deserves._

_And nothing will stand in my way._

And for a time this was true...


	6. The Sun King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Excerpt:  
> “What is happening?” Mitaka demanded.  
> “Sir, I tried to stop him. We only have enough firepower for one more planet. He did not want to wait to find another star...” Shame weighed down on Datoo’s gaze. “I tried to buy you time, sir.”  
> Mitaka’s heart pounded against his chest. His mind raced with too many worst-case scenarios to process. “Just tell me what happened, General.”  
> “With all due respect, sir,” Datoo said, handing him his datapad. “I think you need to talk to the Emperor yourself. I am truly sorry.”  
> Even as Mitaka looked down at the coordinates glowing on the screen he did not believe what he saw.  
> The lights flicker overhead. The planet groaned beneath them.  
> “Where is he?”  
> “Sir, it is too late, he-”  
> Mitaka grabbed the front of Datoo’s uniform and yanked him close. His voice low and tight. “Where. Is. He?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow us on tumblr!  
> Writer, Co-Creator: White-Rainbowff [White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist, Co-Creator: FesteringSilence [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 

 

“When did this happen?” Hux asked, eyes fixated on the hologram projection.

Barely six months into his reign as Emperor and already Hux found himself in the War Room in his Coruscant palace. He knew that in order to obtain a reign of peace he would pave the way through bodies, he just did not imagine it would be so soon.

General Datoo shifted uneasily. “We estimate mere days after your coronation their hold on Arkanis began to take root.”

 _Using the Emperor’s homeworld as a base,_ the Viper observed. _A pointed attack on us. They challenge our might._

“Have they taken the academy,” Mitaka asked. He approached the console and stood beside Hux. Mitaka knew that Hux did not approve of public displays of affection, but even so the Lieutenant pressed his arm ever so slightly against Hux’s.

It was a subtle gesture as though only to let Hux know he was there for him.

...and surprisingly it did bring Hux some comfort.

“We believe so, sir,” Datoo said, pressing a few buttons with a melodic tone that pulled up a larger hologram of the blue, rainy planet itself. “We have attempted to hail the academy several times and there has been no response. No ships have entered or departed from the planet’s surface for a month.”

Hux left Mitaka’s side and paced the circular table, studying the flickering image of his home planet. It was blue, accented with emerald streaks of marshlands. Yet to him, it looked tainted, knowing that the planet’s surface betrayed him just by hosting these traitorous scum.

And the academy, where his life truly began, was dead to him now.

Hux closed his eyes. He pictured the academy’s angular architecture. The tall ceilings, sterile hallways and cramped quarters that were designed for practicality and not comfort. It served as a purely functional facility intended to chip away at fragility to expose a steely resolve.

Reaching out with the Force, Hux felt as if he were walking those hallways again. Except the cold grey and white walls that had shaped his youth were now desecrated with white banners, branded with the swooping gold symbol of the Resistance.

Hux pushed his Sight away from the academy, and combed the lush marshlands finding more life than mere frogdogs and bogwings. Humanoids not native to the world lurked in small camps and in underground hovels.  They planned and schemed and carried outdated maps of long-abandoned First Order bases. They worked tirelessly to find ways to use the First Order’s intelligence against Hux’s New Empire.

“My Lord,” General Datoo said, pulling Hux suddenly away from his Force-fueled observations, “at your command we shall storm the planet and take back the Academy. We will make an example of them.”   

 _The Resistance’s roots run deep in the planet,_ Hux heard the Viper whisper.

“The Resistance’s roots run deep in the planet,” Hux said, opening his eyes. “However difficult you think Arkanis is to defend, it is more difficult to attack.”

“It’s true,” Mitaka said, pulling up a topographical map of the area surrounding the academy. “The electrical storms will fry our weapon sensors. Their anti-aircraft weaponry will make it difficult to land and even if we do, the ground is unfit for the stormtroopers to march. We would lose more than we gain by the time we took back the planet.”

“Understood, sir,” Datoo nodded to Mitaka. “Arkanis is only the beginning. I fear if we do not act now, we will lose the system within the year. They have the wealth and influence to rally others to their cause once they are established. Of all the systems in the galaxy this is one we cannot ignore.”

_The earth is sour. Only weeds exist. Set it ablaze and let others know that the Empire does not tolerate such disloyalty to cultivate._

“The only way to keep these weeds from spreading,” Hux said, staring through the planet to Mitaka on the other side, “is to set ablaze the very ground it insists to infest.”

He half-expected Mitaka to object. To perhaps insist that there has to be another way, a peaceful way. Part of him hoped Mitaka would remind him he was being rash and impulsive.

“Ready the Finalizer,” Mitaka said turning back to the general. “We leave for Starkiller tonight.”

\-----

On an observation deck carved into the highest mountain of Starkiller Base, Hux watched the blizzard beat ceaselessly against the bay window.

Several levels below him, the young Emperor knew General Datoo was making the necessary preparations to unleash the base’s ultimate weapon upon Arkanis.

Less than a year ago it had been Hux giving the order to strike on the Ileenium system and it felt strange to relinquish such a duty to another. Still, Datoo proved to be a faithful successor to his position as general. Hux could sense the anxious excitement bubbling through the new general as he prepared to carry out his Emperor’s duty.

Several hundred yards from where Hux stood, a vast circular canyon of black rock illuminated the dark sky with a faint glow. The power of the sun that Starkiller had consumed entirely just moments ago was already eager to rise to the surface.

An unsettling calm plagued Hux as he waited for the laser cannon to rain hell upon his homeworld. The ubiquitous hunger for power should have been ravaging. Instead his Core felt still, like a taut spring, as though the Viper was waiting.

_Waiting for what?_

“I thought I would find you here,” said a deep, silky voice behind him.

Hux hadn’t heard Mitaka approach, and tensed when he felt those long, lean arms slip around his waist. Mitaka rested his chin on Hux’s shoulder, looking out into the snowy night.

“You’re making the right decision, Bren,” Mitaka said.

Hux did not reply immediately only to realize he was waiting for the Viper to whisper to him an adequate response to how he felt.

He waited.

His Core remained cool and dormant.

“Of course I am,” Hux said finally. “I am Emperor. It is only in times like this that I prove my worth as a leader of worlds. If I must sacrifice my homeworld for the sake of this galaxy, I will gladly do it.”

A faint humming pulsed its way out of the canyon in waves, the precursor before the power of the sun was harnessed. A flicker of light escaped the darkness of the circular canyon. Starkiller was ready.

Mitaka stood next to his husband and took his hand.

“There is no turning back from this,” Mitaka said, squeezing his hand gently. “Just know that I stand by you, no matter what happens.”

Hux opened his mouth. The words formed on his tongue.

_I love you, Phel. Thank you._

But the words never left his lips.

The ground beneath their feet began to tremble. The walls and floor shuddered and groaned with the building pressure. The faint embers within the canyon steadily grew brighter. Hux could feel the energy of the captured star within the Starkiller’s belly, aching to be unleashed.

When the laser cannon fired, Hux exhaled the breath he had been holding. Even several hundred yards away separated by thick glass, Hux could feel the heat of the laser cannon and he basked in the sheer magnitude of the Starkiller’s power.

Hux had seen Starkiller carry out its purpose only twice before, and each time something stirred deep within him. He did not need the Force to feel the weapon’s intensity coursing through the very fiber of his being. Starkiller was a part of him. He had given everything he had to ensure its creation. And had given it even more to see it thrive. Like a terrible idol, he willingly sacrificed all to keep it appeased.

And today he was ready to give another gift to its greatness.

 _We will give it death and in return it will bring us life._ The Viper hissed within his Core.

Hux’s heart lurched at the sudden awakening within him. He braced himself for the hunger, for the Force to tear at him and beg him to be satiated.

Instead, all was still…

Until the drums started.

It was a slow tempo. A low bass noise that reverberated in his head, his chest, setting his nerves on edge.

Then a chorus of voices rose from the darkness.

It dwelled beneath the rising tempo of the drumbeats. The wordless melody weaved through the beats, rising and falling like flotsam caught in a storm. Hux struggled to latch onto something to steady him as the chorus tried to sweep him away.

Yet as he focused on the light that poured endlessly from the canyon, he felt his consciousness slip away as if dragged into an undertow of fire. The only indication his body was not sucked into the endless inferno was the dull sense of Mitaka grabbing onto his shoulders shaking him. He vaguely felt a pair of hands holding his cheeks. There was a ghostly warmth to those hands. He should have seen Mitaka’s eyes, but his sight was far beyond his husband’s face…

Beyond the observation deck…

Beyond Starkiller...

He followed the song and the drums and the Force to Arkanis.

The chorus lurking beneath the incessant drumming rose higher the closer he came to Arkanis. Like a Siren’s song it guided him to the source of the melody, the hunger clawing within him giving way to hope of satiation.

It was then that he realized the beautiful melody was in fact the screams of hundreds of thousands of rebels staring at death coming from above.

And the drum beat...heart beats….

He could hear them all.

Hundreds of thousands of heart beats. As though desperate to play their percussion song one last time before Hux absorbed every one of them.

Hux opened himself to the fear.

Every shriek, sob, each desperate prayer food for the Dark Side. And he feasted greedily.

The more he consumed, the more his power grew. Every part of him vibrated with energy as the chorus sang to him. It did not sing to Starkiller, nor to the laserfire that came like a shooting star towards the planet. No...the song of terror was sung to him and him alone.

_Such power…_

Hux felt his Core open up within him like a maw of a ravenous beast stretching so far that Hux could no longer find any part of him that was not consumed. He was a singular entity, a Viper, the Force incarnate, and he consumed all the fear and hate permeating from Arkanis’ surface.

“Can you feel it?” Hux gasped. “Can you feel its power?”

He could not remember who he was speaking to. He heard a faint voice shouting somewhere in the distance, or close to him. It was hard to be sure…

_He heard a terrified voice. “Your eyes! What’s happening? Bren, please wake up. Please.”_

A white light flashed before Hux’s eyes.

The seemingly endless well of despair was suddenly cut off as the planet was ripped apart.

The world came rushing back to Hux in an instant. The raw power retreated into the darkness within him, withdrawing into a black hole until nothing was left but a small burning mark within his Core.

Awareness of his own body came to him slowly.

It started with his arms. They had been outstretched, trembling violently, and he took a deep breath to quiet them. He felt his legs next. He was on his knees, which ached with the kind of pain that came from a hard fall. He sat on his heels and took another breath.

Lights danced before his eyes over a black curtain of blindness.

And then his sight began to clear.

An angel was staring at him, a pale shadow haloed by a blinding gray aura that crackled with black lightning.

It was saying something, but the words were low and diluted by the buzz in Hux’s head.

Its eyes came into focus and stole Hux’s breath from him.

_They are the color of fertile earth...earth that encourages life and buries the dead._

_Eyes that have endured unimaginable pain and have suffered fathomless love._

_Eyes that are destined to be closed by the hand of his lover._

_Eyes that weep for the future and lament the past._

“You are beautiful,” Hux said and took the angel’s face in his hands. The warmth of its cheeks anchored him, bringing the rest of the world back into view.

Mitaka was kneeling in front of him, his face held in Hux’s palms. Cool tears wetted Hux’s hands.

“Bren?” Mitaka whispered, more tears streaming down his face.

Hux withdrew. His body grew cold.

_Eyes that are destined to be closed by the hand of his lover._

_Was that a vision? Was that an illusion? What does it all mean?_

“What has happened to you?” Mitaka said.  
“I...felt them, Phel,” he said, extending a hand, watching black vapor trailing behind his movements. “I felt their fear. I felt their hatred. I experienced everything they endured up to the very end.”

_And fed. We fed on them and gained strength from that fear. We are stronger. We are...elevated._

“That must have been horrible,” Mitaka said.

“I am fine,” Hux said, placing a reassuring hand on Mitaka’s and squeezing. Truth be told he was better than alright.

He felt...attuned.

To everything.

“So it appears,” Mitaka said, pulling his hand away.

It was then that Hux realized Mitaka was not worried about his well-being. “Phel…”

“Don’t,” Mitaka said standing up.

Hux grabbed his wrist. “Where are you going?”

“Away from the yellow-eyed monster that has consumed my husband.”

The words slapped Hux in the face. _Yellow eyes?_

Hux caught his reflection in the glass of the window. His heart slammed against his chest.

A pair of yellow moons stare back at him. Their glow outshined the rest of his reflection.

“I can’t do this, Bren. I can’t stay and watch you become another Snoke.”

Hux shot to his feet, his hand tightening around Mitaka’s wrist. “I am nothing like Snoke. I do this for our Empire.”

“I fell in love with you knowing that your first love will always be one thing: Power. I knew it the moment you destroyed the Republic. You crave it. You revel in it. And when you gained the power of the Dark Side I tolerated being a battery to strengthen it. And for a while, I seemed to be enough,” Mitaka’s hard stare broke, his eyes growing glassy. “You destroyed Arkanis for the Empire. But you siphoned their fear for the Force. You’ve tasted blood, Bren. I _watched_ you feed on them. I have seen that face before on Snoke when he...” Mitaka’s jaw tightened.

“Phel…”

Mitaka ripped his wrist away and walked towards the door.

With a snarl, Hux shot a hand out to the control panel. Sparks flared on the panel and the lights went out just as Mitaka punched at it.

“Bren, let me out.”

“No,” Hux said, his temper flaring. “You’re not leaving here until we have talked.”

Mitaka stood his ground as Hux approached. His fists tightened, his aura a flickering mass of aggressive energy, flashing like Hux had never seen before.

“Whatever you plan to do is nothing compared to what I have been through,” Mitaka said, his voice quivering, but his body face hardened.

Hux stopped his approach. “Phel, I love you,” he said, his heart sinking. “Stars, I would _never_ hurt you. Why would I now?”

“Armitage Brendol Hux would never hurt me. But I don’t know who you are now.”

Hux wanted to approach him. Yet as he approached, Mitaka backed away. His palms pressed against the wall, and his eyes bravely challenging him.

Hux never wanted this. He never wanted Mitaka to look at him like this. To fear him. To look upon him as though he were a monster.

 _If he does not stand with us,_ the Viper hissed, _he stands against us._

Hux’s fists clenched…

Then loosened his grip.

With a wave of his hand, he forced the broken doors open.

“Phel, please,” he said, dropping to his knees. “Don’t go. I can’t do this without you.”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Mitaka replied, the tears pouring endlessly down his cheeks despite his tightened jaw and even, low voice. “You fed off of Arkanis the same way you’ve fed off of me. What’s to say you’ll stop there? What is stopping you from tearing down more worlds to satiate that thing within you?”

_He does not understand us. He does not know the perils that lurk in the galaxy. He will try to stop us from carrying out our duties as Emperor._

“That is exactly why I need you,” Hux said, ignoring the Viper. “I need you to keep me grounded. I need you to make sure I do not fall so far.”

_And what could he possibly do to stop us?_

“I am still me,” Hux said.

Mitaka turned to the door, then after a moment, his shoulders sagged. He turned back to Hux and held out his hand.

“Then let’s go home, Bren,” he said, tears shining in his eyes. “The longer you’re on Starkiller, the more danger your soul is in.”

_There is so much more to do. There are others out there waiting for their chance to turn against us. Can you feel this new power within us? We can feel the uprising. We can prevent the Resistance from forming. One planet at a time._

“Of course.” Hux said. “Let’s go home.” He took Mitaka’s hand and rose to his feet. He brushed the tears away from his husband’s cheeks and replaced them with small kisses. “We will leave in the morning.”

\-----

That night, Hux had not expected anything from Mitaka. He would give his husband the space he needed for as long as he needed.

So when Mitaka took his hand and guided him to their bedroom, Hux was taken aback. With cautious optimism he allowed himself to be led to the large round bed in the center of the room. He expected, and dared to hope, that Mitaka would strip before him as he had many times before. That he would remove Hux’s clothes next and cover him in kisses before lying down to ready himself for his Emperor and husband.

Instead, Mitaka placed Hux in front of the bed and said in a low tone, “Take off your clothes.”

A curious eyebrow twitched at the directness of the command, but Hux complied. He took off his pelisse first, then took to unbuttoning his jacket, studying the intensity in Mitaka’s face. As he shed himself of his clothes, Mitaka did the same, his modest uniform taking far less time than the Emperor’s and yet he did not lie on the bed waiting for Hux as the Emperor finished shedding his clothes. He merely stood, waiting and watching.

Hux’s pants and briefs pooled around his feet and he stood naked, waiting for his next direction.

“Lie down,” Mitaka said, his voice threatened to crack, but he managed to keep his tone strong.

Hux complied and slid onto the bed. The moment he did, Mitaka was on him. His body pressed hard against Hux’s, weighing him down. He slipped his knees between Hux’s legs, pushing them apart. Hux exhaled sharply, feeling his hardening cock rub against the warmth of Mitaka’s already stiff member.

Mitaka started with soft kisses on Hux’s mouth, each one a tease, pulling away whenever Hux tried to slip his tongue in or bite at that rosy bottom lip. He kissed Hux’s jawline, grazing his lips down the Emperor’s neck.

Hux shivered. His husband’s lips felt like soft petals caressing his skin, gliding along his throat, down to his collar bone, lingering only for a moment before descending. They stopped at his right nipple before brushing his lips against the hardening nub, tonguing it lightly.

Hux moaned and squirmed as his sensitive nerves were sent on edge, the sensation spreading across his chest and into his loins. He pushed his hips up, but Mitaka pulled away, drawing out a soft whimper from Hux.

It was not like Mitaka to deny him anything. And yet, he indulged on the fact that his husband had found the courage to deny the most powerful man in the galaxy what he wanted.

Hux watched Mitaka’s tongue caress his nipple, the long fingers of his left hand pinching the other, shooting thrills of pleasure through him. Mitaka glanced up as Hux writhed beneath his touch, dark eyes sparkling. Hux looked away immediately, shutting his eyes and biting his lip hard.

As he tried again to grind his hips against his husband, he felt Mitaka’s hands push against his thighs.

“Don’t move,” Mitaka whispered against Hux’s chest. His voice was gentle, but his command was firm.

Hux let out a helpless whimper as Mitaka pulled away. Never had his body trembled like this. Never had the anticipation been so strong. He was tempted to just take what he wanted. He could reach up and grab Mitaka’s waist, throw him onto the bed and grind indulgently against him until he came. But Hux resisted. It felt good to comply to his husband’s wishes. It made him feel more human...something he had not felt in a long time.

Keeping his eyes closed, Hux heard Mitaka rummage through the nightstand drawer and then the sound of a bottle cap popping open.

His breath caught with anticipation and his hands clenched the silken sheets. He felt Mitaka kneel between his legs again.

“Spread your legs for me,” Mitaka said softly. His fingers grazed Hux’s inner thigh, sending thrills up his spine.

Hux was eager to obey, drawing up his knees and spreading his thighs wide, feeling completely and utterly exposed. His whole body twitched as he felt a slick finger glide over his entrance. He moaned and squirmed as it massaged his tight ring of muscle. As he tried to push against it, it pulled away.

He dared to open his eyes and saw Mitaka kneeling over him, drizzling the lubricant over his own shaft, his breath heavy and his eyelids hooded as he stroked himself.

“Phel,” he gasped, drawing up his knees and spreading himself farther, “please…”

“Say it,” Mitaka moaned, a blush rising across his pale chest and soft cheeks.

Hux arched his back, his cock throbbing now. He shamelessly writhed and moaned. “I need you, Phel. I want you inside me. I need you to fill me.”

A sob escaped Hux’s lips as Mitaka wrapped a slick hand around Hux’s shaft, moving in a slow rhythm as he positioned his cock against Hux’s entrance.

The waiting was agonizingly beautiful. And when Mitaka plunged into Hux, he felt his entire world shift around him in one electrifying moment of ecstasy.

Mitaka cried out and leaned forward, his hands bracing on either side of Hux’s head as he filled Hux entirely. Muscles surfaced on Mitaka’s soft abdomen as he moved in and out of his husband, shivering and moaning his name as he did so.

Hux dared to glance at his husband again, reveling in how beautiful he looked, his eyes closed moaning Hux’s name as he pumped into him over and over. Mitaka opened his eyes and Hux looked away again.

“Bren,” Mitaka’s eyebrows knitted, slowing his movements, “why won’t you look at me?”

Hux kept his eyes lowered. "Because you shouldn't have to look into the eyes of a monster when making love to your husband."  
Hux felt soft fingertips press against his chin, tilting his gaze upwards. A pair of warm brown eyes shone down at him. "Then show me there is no monster behind those eyes."

Tears trickled down the sides of Hux’s face and Mitaka kissed them away.

It was then that Hux realized he had not looked at Mitaka’s aura, nor had any desire to lap up the emotions quaking within the billowy mass that pulsated with ecstasy.

Tonight there were no monsters. Tonight he was a normal man making love to his husband.

He locked eyes with Mitaka, watching the color rise in his husband’s cheeks. Mitaka pumped faster and harder into him, brushing Hux’s prostate over and over, sending him closer to his peak.

As if sensing the rise in him, Mitaka quickened his pace. Between low moans he gasped. “Come for me, Bren.”

It was all the prompting Hux needed as beads of white spilled onto Hux’s belly and in the same breath he felt Mitaka’s cock pulse several times as he filled him.

Mitaka kept his eyes locked on Hux as he came, and this time Hux did not look away, amazed and in awe of this angel who had effortlessly looked past the demon, to love the man beneath.

With a final shiver, Mitaka withdrew and collapsed next to his husband, panting heavily.

Hux drew him into his arms, unaware of the tears that flowed freely until the coolness of the room chilled his cheeks. Mitaka brushed the tears away. “I didn't know an Emperor could cry.” His smile was tired and playful.

“An Emperor does not cry,” Hux kissed the top of Mitaka’s head. “A man who loves his husband does.”

They fell asleep in each other’s arms.

One of them fell asleep believing that they would leave for Coruscant the next day to live their days in a peaceful Empire.

The other fell asleep believing that the Viper no longer held sway over his life.

Hux was the first to realize their hopes were lies.

In the dead of the night Hux awoke to hear a familiar darkness surface within his mind.

 _Wake up._ It said. _We have work to do._

\-----

When Mitaka awoke, he was alone.

“Bren?” He reached out to where Hux should have been and felt cool sheets instead.

He rolled over and tapped the datapad on his nightstand. The painfully bright blue numbers read 0200.

Wrapping himself in a soft doeskin coat, Mitaka stepped out of their quarters and looked down the long corridor.

The Emperor’s quarters were located on the far western wing of the officer’s quarters and there was rarely traffic that ventured so far. There would be no reason for anyone to be in the War Room at this hour. And yet the red occupancy light pulsated.

Ignoring the sinking feeling in his gut, Mitaka slid his keycard into the panel and the doors hissed open.

The room was unusually dark. Half of the lights were blown out, their glass casings cracked and sparks rained down onto the ground every now and then before dying out. There was a heaviness in the room. Every part of him felt weighed down by some unseen oppression.

MItaka saw the massive hologram first. The map was projected from the center of the war table freckled with clusters of spheres and dots that made up the entire Galaxy. Red digital markings were furiously scribbled on the map. Some star systems were circled then crossed out, others were connected by erratic lines in patterns Mitaka could not discern.

A single word was written sloppily on half of the circled planets. Sometimes it was crossed out. Other times it was crossed out only to be rewritten just above it several times.

“‘Target,’” Mitaka read in a whisper.

_Target? A target for what?_

Something shifted beyond the hologram. Squinting hard, Mitaka saw a figure hunched over at the far end of the table. He circled around the table to find Hux surrounded by three datapads, each one projecting images of various news reports, streams of data and more detailed star charts.

Hux rocked slowly back and forth as his yellow eyes darted frantically between the three projections. One hand furiously clicked and pushed at the buttons on the datapads, while the other gripped his hair tightly, tugging at it periodically as more reports popped into view.

He murmured...not to himself, but he seemed to be responding to something as if Mitaka was only hearing one half of a conversation.

“Bren?” Mitaka called out, keeping his distance.

Hux continued mumbling, swiping angrily at one screen, then raising a hand to lift a stylus across the room to cross out another “target” off the map before flinging it away.

“Bren, can you hear me?” Mitaka took a step forward.

Another light sparked, then sputtered out.

A feverish intensity flared in those golden eyes, bright enough to illuminate the space around the Emperor. The black center of his eyes were all but pinpoints.

He marched over and grabbed Hux’s arm roughly. “Bren, wake up!”

Hux snapped to attention, shooting out of his chair and towering over Mitaka who took a step back.

“Leave,” he said, his voice low, the word split into what sounded like a pair of voices. It could have been the echo of the room...it could have been Mitaka’s exhaustion catching up with him...

_Or the Force infecting his mind has a voice as well..._

“I’m not leaving without you,” Mitaka said, standing firm.

Hux’s yellow eyes bored into him for a long agonizing moment. A loud pop exploded from another light fixture overhead, the sudden sound making Mitaka jump. The sound also seemed to pull Hux from his furious stance and he eased back into his chair.

“I will be with you soon,” he said, his voice returned to his soft, deep lilt again.

“And we will be heading back to Coruscant in the morning?” Mitaka pressed.

Hux looked up at Mitaka and displayed a thin-lipped smile. “You have my word.”

That promise should have been enough.

Mitaka wanted to believe it was enough.

As he returned to quarters, laying his head on the pillow he stared up at the ceiling and wondered who was it that gave him his word.

\-----

The earthquake awoke Mitaka with a start. Books shook loose from the shelves and the bed itself moved a few inches from the vibrations. Mitaka jumped out of bed and punched the panel which drew up the metal window curtains. Snow was shaken from skeletal trees. The very mountain shuddered and caused small avalanches in the distance. Mitaka had experienced these sorts of tremors only twice before...

_Oh no…_

Mitaka threw on his trousers and a tank shirt and punched the control panel. It beeped a few times, then went dark.

_No…please, no._

He punched it again. It stayed locked.

“Bren!” he screamed, beating against the door. Pain shot through his wrists as he succeeded in only making a dull thudding sound on the thick panels. “Open the door!” Angry tears spilled down his face and pressed his head hard against the cold metal door. “Please…”

He heard a series of muffled beeps on the other side of the door. Mitaka backed away just in time for the doors to slide open.

General Datoo stood in the doorway, a grave look on his drawn, high-cheekboned face.

“Sir, we have a problem.”

“What is happening?” Mitaka demanded.

“Sir, I tried to stop him. We only have enough firepower for one more planet. He did not want to wait to find another star...” Shame weighed down on Datoo’s gaze. “I tried to buy you time, sir.”

Mitaka’s heart pounded against his chest. His mind raced with too many worst-case scenarios to process. “Just tell me what happened, General.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Datoo said, handing him his datapad. “I think you need to talk to the Emperor yourself. I am truly sorry.”

Even as Mitaka looked down at the coordinates glowing on the screen he did not believe what he saw.

The lights flicker overhead. The planet groaned beneath them.

“Where is he?”

“Sir, it is too late, he-”

Mitaka grabbed the front of Datoo’s uniform and yanked him close. His voice low and tight. “Where. Is. He?”

\-----

The crazed, disheveled creature that Mitaka witnessed in the War Room was not the same man that he found on the observation deck.

Hux was dressed in his pristine white uniform, the pelisse draped over one shoulder. His hair was combed to perfection. His stance tall and proud, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out into the white world outside the window.

“Bren,” Mitaka said, quietly, “what have you done?”

Hux did not turn around. “I am cleansing the Empire of the Resistance.” he said, simply.

Mitaka took a step forward. “There _is_ no Resistance. You made sure of that when you destroyed Arkanis.”

“You are wrong,” Hux’s head lowered. “I have felt the disturbance through the Force. There is rebellion brewing in the minds of our galaxy. I could feel them last night. I spent hours looking for them. I know where they hide. And there is only one way I can stop them.”

“There will always be those who are against the Empire, Bren,” Mitaka said. “We cannot force everyone to approve of our existence. We can only fight those who threaten it.”

“They threaten everything we have built with their very thoughts,” Hux hissed, he turned his head just enough that a yellow eye flashed angrily at Mitaka. “And after today, we will be one step closer to purifying our galaxy.”

“Who is your next target then? What _entire_ planet deserves to be destroyed for merely _thinking_ of overthrowing the Empire?”

Hux said nothing for a long moment.

Meanwhile, Starkiller began to shudder again. A soft whirring noise; a tell-tale of the laser cannon warming up.

_He wouldn’t dare..._

“Bren,” Mitaka pressed, his heart sinking. “What planet?”

“This is for the greater good, Phel,” Hux said quietly, and this time he spoke alone.

Mitaka grabbed Hux’s shoulder and yanked hard, forcing Hux to face him.

“What planet?” He demanded.

Hux’s yellow eyes were empty, yet there was the faintest trace of sorrow etched in the word he spoke.

“Lothal.”

The slap struck Hux hard across the cheek before Mitaka could restrain himself. The force of the blow turned Hux’s head, and slowly he turned back to look at Mitaka.

“There was no other way.”

Mitaka slapped him again.

“You are sorry.” Mitaka echoed, clenching his fist, his palm stinging. “My homeworld is about to be destroyed and you’re _sorry_?”

He raised his hand a third time, but Hux caught his wrist and squeezed hard. Mitaka gritted his teeth against the sharp pain of the Emperor’s vice-like grip.

“You can’t do this,” Mitaka said through clenched jaw, struggling to free his throbbing wrist.

Hux’s demonic yellow eyes studied the Lieutenant for a long while as though considering something. Then he loosened his grip, turning Mitaka’s palm upwards and kissing the stinging flesh gently.

“It is for the greater good. It is for our Empire.”

The ground beneath their feet vibrated as the power of the sun swelled within Starkiller.

“Don’t talk to me about our Empire.” Mitaka said, ripping his hand away. “This is for you. All of this has always been for you, whatever you are.”

“I am still me.” Hux said, evenly.

The whirring noise grew in intensity, the very sound reverberating off the walls of the observation deck. The ground shook violently. In the distance, the glow from the black canyon grew more intense, the glow growing more prominently by the second. The sound swelled and throbbed through Mitaka’s ears.

“And what else are you?” Mitaka demanded, backing away from Hux.

The sound of the laser cannon swelling now roared in his ears. A terrible orchestral noise reaching its crescendo.

“Power.”

Starkiller’s cannon unleashed hellfire into the sky. An unholy halo cast around Hux’s entire being, his yellow eyes rolling back and his arms extended to his sides. The very air around Hux began to bend and sway as though the Dark Side permeated off of him like waves of heat. Mitaka watched helplessly as his husband died in front of him as the Dark Side took its place.

“This is the dawn of a new world, a better world” Hux said. His voice was echoed by the shadow of another entity as though the very Force that corrupted him influenced his words. “A world of peace and pure thoughts. You will see.”

“You are a madman,” Mitaka said, backing away.

The smile that split Hux’s face at that moment would be etched in Mitaka’s mind for the rest of his life.

Mitaka fled the room.

The sounds of Starkiller’s cannon, the sound of every nightmare Mitaka had ever experienced, roared in his ears and no matter how far he ran he could not escape it.

He broke into the War Room where Hux had left his datapads. He flicked all three datapads on and poured through the history reports. There were dozens of notifications of small rebellions exploding throughout the Outer Rim, but nothing of import.

He found only one riot held in Lothal, in a remote village far from the major mining establishments and cities. And yet it had been one of three planets Hux had targeted.

Mitaka punched the access code and the three doomed planets came up on the War Room display:

The first was Lothal, a large digital X scratched through it.

The second was Naboo, circled frantically.

The third…

Mitaka paled.

“Coruscant,” he breathed.

Mitaka felt outside of himself. This couldn’t be happening. Not to him. Not to Hux. None of this seemed real.

He stared at the datapads in front of him.

This was why Datoo wanted Mitaka to talk to Hux directly. This was way he let him out.

_I’m the only one who can do this...stars...and am I really going to do this?_

He looked at the hologram of Coruscant. Billions of lives...innocent lives...sentenced to death to satiate the Emperor’s hunger.

_I don’t have a choice..._

He grabbed the three datapads and fled to his quarters. He stuffed them in a bag, grabbed whatever clothes he could find and ran through Starkiller. His mind a blur, his body flush and vibrating with panicked energy.

 _I don’t have a choice,_ the thought continued to run over and over in his head. He wouldn’t do this if he had any other choice.

There were only a handful of names that Hux had identified on Naboo as possible rebels, but it was his only chance. If he could just speak with them. If he could gather them before it was too late...

Mitaka punched the panel opening the doors to the hangar bay. He nearly crashed into the awaiting General Datoo and his band of four stormtroopers behind him.

Mitaka’s heart sank.

“General,” he greeted, suddenly wishing he had brought a blaster.

“Sir.” Datoo nodded curtly. “The ships are on lockdown while Starkiller’s laser cannon is activated.”

Mitaka looked over the console that Datoo guarded. With just a few keystrokes he would be off this rock, saving the galaxy…

“So they are.” Mitaka said, swallowing hard, glancing at the stormtroopers.

They stared at each other until Mitaka finally said. “Are you here to stop me then, General?”

“No, sir.” Datoo replied, lightly. He turned to the console and tapped in a few commands. The command shuttle flickered on, the back hatch opening up, waiting for his pilot to enter.

“There is nothing to stop,” Datoo continued. “Like I said, all ships are on lockdown.” He typed in a few more commands and MItaka watched Datoo delete the transportation history log for this day.

Mitaka’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank you, General.”

“Sir…” it seemed like Datoo had plenty more to say to him, but in the end only said. “Good luck, sir.”

Datoo saluted and walked out of the hanger with his stormtroopers in tow, leaving Mitaka to his plan...

...His plan to betray his Emperor...

...and save his galaxy.


	7. Memento Mori

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Excerpt:  
> Hux looked up to the stars, a faint ache threatening to overtake his chest.  
>  _Phel, come back to me…_  
>  The ache did not last, as, in the distance, the lights of the Resistance fleet appeared, sobering Hux’s thoughts, reminding him of the betrayal Mitaka committed against his Emperor.  
>  _Yes…_ he thought, the darkness gathering around him like a protective shell, _come back to us, Lieutenant...let us see what you can do to stop the might of Emperor Hux._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you read this chapter let me tell you: Please hang in there! Read this and then know there is an Epilogue coming. I promise no matter what happens in the following Epilogue there will be some closure and some hope. This chapter has been heartbreaking to write, but it needed to be done, for Mitaka’s sake and everything he is fighting for.  
> <3 Thank you for coming with FesteringSilence and myself on this amazing journey through the Faust AU. <3
> 
> Follow us on tumblr!  
> Writer, Co-Creator: [White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist, Co-Creator: [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 

General Datoo did not fear much.

He had survived the fall of the first Empire. He had survived the incompetent reign of the New Republic. He was there at the rise of the First Order and now saw its potential to become a better empire than its predecessor.

When one had lived the life Datoo had, there was not much left to fear.

General Datoo was pragmatic, and a cautious man. He was also no fool. He was certainly not a starry-eyed officer that obeyed every whim of their new emperor without question, hoping for scraps of praise.

Datoo knew Hux’s rise to power was too easy. His defeat of Snoke was too swift. The fealty he received from the whole of the First Order was too...complete.

It did not take a Force-sensitive witch to understand that Hux had sacrificed a part of himself to the Dark Side to become the Emperor he was today.

No, General Datoo did not fear much, but at this moment, as he stared into the dead yellow eyes of his emperor he felt a quaking terror he had not known for decades.

“My lord,” he said, managing an even tone, “what you ask is impossible.”

Hux had taken the observation deck overseeing the Starkiller’s cannon as a second quarters. A black and red throne faced the wide windows. Banners of the First Order hung along the walls and several long tables housed artifacts of both Imperial and Sith technology. Datoo recognized the latter items as Kylo Ren’s possessions. Even Darth Vader’s helmet sat on a pedestal beside the throne.

Hux slowly spun the throne around, away from the window, towards the general. His golden eyes flashed for a moment upon seeing Datoo, then settled into cool yellow irises. He looked...older. His face was drawn, hair no longer perfectly combed, even his uniform had a few wrinkles.

“I did not ask for your opinion, general.” Hux’s voice was shadowed by a second voice of a deeper octave, as though another presence consumed his mind. “I only ask for your obedience.”

“And I would love nothing more than to carry out what you ask, but we need more time. Our remaining power is not strong enough to attack Naboo. And we must find a star unaccompanied by a system if we are to power our cannon.”

Datoo hoped that Hux understood. He also hoped more that this would buy Mitaka time to do whatever he set out to do. If Datoo’s suspicions were correct, Mitaka was on his way to the new Resistance base on Naboo. Which meant he needed the planet to remain intact until then.

 _For the greater good of the galaxy,_ he thought, remembering his oath taken in the days of the Old Empire. _No matter the cost._

“Tell me general,” Hux said, pressing his fingertips together, “how far are we from the Naboo system.”

“A month out, my lord.”

“And the Naboo system has a sun warming its planets, does it not?”

Datoo felt a chill. He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Hux arched an eyebrow and splayed his hands at the obviousness of the situation.

“Then I believe it’s time to set a course for Naboo.”

“Sir, there are two other minor inhabited planets in that system. Only Naboo shows any sign of dissent.”

Hux narrowed his eyes. “Would you rather I choose another system to feed our battle station? Perhaps the Axxila?”

Datoo felt the blood drain from his face. His mind flashed to his brothers and sisters, his nieces and nephews, his childhood home where they still lived.

For the people he loved he said, “No, sir. I will set a course for Naboo.”

“Of course you will,” Hux said with a sneer.

Datoo clicked his heels and bowed.

“General...”

“Sir?”

“You have not yet asked why my husband is absent.”

Datoo swallowed. “No, sir.”

“Are you not aware he is missing?”

He felt a tingle within his mind.

_Don't think. Don’t think._

“Sir, I did not. Do you wish me to send a party to search for-”

A wave of energy crashed into him and sent the general hurtling back against the wall, pinning him several feet off the ground.

“Do not lie to me, general,” Hux snarled. “I know you assisted his departure. What I want to know is why? Where is he going?”

Datoo shut his eyes. He replayed the Axxila International Anthem in his mind. “Sir, his reasons for leaving were his own. I was not going to disobey the husband of my emperor.”

Hux’s lip twitched a moment, his eyes blazed like sunfire. In the end, he lowered his hand and Datoo collapsed to the floor.

“You are alive because I still have use for you, general. You would do well to remember who you serve.”

“I serve you, my lord,” Datoo said, getting to his feet. “we shall set a course for Naboo today.”

\-----

[G. Datoo]: _Sir, the emergency evacuation is in place. Most of our fleet should be out of range well before the Resistance’s attack. The remaining casualties will be minimal._

Mitaka swallowed hard and responded to the message on his datapad.

[Lt. Mitaka]: _Thank you, General, for everything. For the Empire._

[G. Datoo]: _For the Empire, sir. Good luck._

Nausea and guilt churned within Mitaka’s gut as he stood on the deck of an MC80 Star Cruiser, a beat up, ancient Mon Calamari ship that had seen better days, probably during the first Empire. The air was stale and thick with dust, the ventilation shafts groaning laboriously as it tried to filter the air that just did not want to be moved.

Mitaka adjusted the tight collar of his civilian clothes, the clothes the Resistance gave him after they had stripped him of his uniform and threw him in a rickety, makeshift jail. A jail he stayed in for days while they interrogated him. After too many days, the small-minded bumpkins finally understood that no, he was not a spy, and yes, he was here to...betray the new Empire.

_Betray…_

He was not truly betraying the Empire, was he? He believed in the Empire. He loved it and the First Order that gave birth to it. He would never betray them to give the _Resistance_ power.

These hapless fools with their sloppy uniforms and disorganized intel had no appreciation for the finesse it took to rule the galaxy. As soon as he could, Mitaka would issue the order to evacuate the Starkiller, leaving Hux and a skeleton crew ripe for the pickings of the Resistance.

But to give the Empire over to Resistance control?

 _Over my dead body,_ he thought, clenching his fist.

“Dopheld…”

Mitaka stiffened. The voice was graveled, yet gentle. It was the voice of a general and a princess, a legend and a superstition. Mitaka had grown up seeing her as the enemy, the symbol of everything he was fighting against. She was the discord that threatened to tear down his world as surely as she and her brother did the Empire. And here she stood, having the gall to call him by his birth name.

“General,” he greeted curtly.

“I can’t imagine what you are going through right now.”

Mitaka winced at the sincerity in her voice, but kept his eyes trained on the glittering galaxy ahead. His eyes continued to search for one particular “star”, the one dull spot in the galaxy, Starkiller Base, where his husband waited.

The dull thud of worn boots crossed the filthy floor that was not up to First Order code in the slightest.

“You are doing the right thing, you know. And you have the full support of the Resistance to back you.”

At this Mitaka bristled. “I am not doing this for the Resistance.”

“Of course you're not, Dopheld. You’re doing this because you love your galaxy, to protect it at all costs.”

 _She doesn’t say “Empire_ ,” Mitaka noted. _She_ _doesn’t want Imperial control. She wants another Republic. She wants a democracy that spells disharmony for the galaxy. Still...for now...our missions are the same_.

“I do love the galaxy,” he said finally. “And no, this is not easy. I still...”

He clenched his jaw and willed the sudden tears away. He was done crying. It was useless at this point. He was about to face the creature who had killed his husband. This yellow-eyed monster was no longer Hux.

_He is no longer my Bren._

“You still love him…That, young man, is something I understand too well.”

Mitaka wanted to dismissed her words, but the ache in her voice gave him pause. He resigned to look at her. She had a maternal quality to her, small and solid, her long hair done up in complex braids around her head. Yet, despite the regal style, she wore a practical pair of slacks and a vest with a frayed Resistance patch on her lapel. Her eyes were glazed, her aged cheeks tightened with emotion.

“I know what it’s like to fight against the ones you love.”

 _She does understand..._ Mitaka realized. _She sacrificed everything doing the same thing I am doing now. And she lost her son during the battle of Ileenium. Her son, her husband, everyone._

“I’ve lost more than I would wish on anyone,” Leia said, as though somehow reading his mind. “And,” her sympathetic smile dissolved into a thin grim line, “I understand you have as well. My planet was destroyed when I was not much younger than you.”

Ice water flooded Mitaka’s veins.

 _Alderaan. Destroyed by the old Empire...destroyed by Grand Moff Tarkin himself and...her own father_.

“Hux has turned into Kylo Ren,” Mitaka found himself saying before he could stop himself. “He’s...worse than Vader.”

It was clear the words hit General Organa hard, her sympathetic eyes turning narrow. Despite being a much shorter than Mitaka, she drew herself up to an intimidating stance.

“If that is true, then this is why we must stop him. I loved my son, but what I fight for is bigger than him. You love your husband, of course you do, but Dopheld I’m telling you...if what you say is true, then your husband is already dead.”

As Mitaka looked back to the bay window, his heart slammed against his chest. He had only looked away for a moment. When he looked back however, he found a solid grey stain in the bejeweled galaxy.

_Starkiller._

“Be strong, Dopheld,” Leia laid a thin wrinkled hand on Mitaka’s shoulder. “We are with you...”

And with that, General Leia Organa walked from the room.

Her words triggered a memory that Mitaka wanted so desperately to forget. A memory Mitaka didn’t want to resurface...

His mind flashed back to the night Hux revealed his plans to him. The night Mitaka knelt in front of his general swearing his allegiance to him.

 _“I want to trust you…” Mitaka says, shaking away the nagging feeling that this was wrong. That nothing good comes from the Force. That nothing good comes from the Dark Side..._ _  
_ _Hux cups Mitaka’s cheek. The Lieutenant looks into those impossibly blue eyes, warm pools that melt now for his Lieutenant._

 _“I swear to you,” Hux said, “I will never enter your mind without your permission. I will never control what you do or say. I say this honestly, Phel, you are the only person in the galaxy that can trust me. You need to understand that in order to make this work, I will be bending the wills of all around us to make this happen. I will break the cosmos to do our bidding if I must, but it will always be our bidding. And I promise I will protect you from anyone who opposes us.” Hux took a breath. “My question to you is, are you with me?”_ _  
_ _Nothing good comes from the Dark Side...but this was_ Hux _. This was his general, a man Mitaka would follow into Hell if asked. He would betray everything he held dear if his general commanded it. Hux was disciplined, strong, infallible in Mitaka’s eyes._

And my general needs me... _Mitaka thinks,_ and I need him.

 _Mitaka finds himself sinking to his knees in front of Hux. He takes the general’s hand in his and presses his lips against the general’s palm, then his wrist, then presses that strong, firm hand against his cheek._ _  
_ _“If you'll have me, Emperor...I am with you until the end.”_

“And this,” Mitaka whispered to the empty room, “ is the end.”

\-----

Fear sang to him like a lullaby.

Hux stood in the grand amphitheater, cold, eternal winter winds whipping around him. The very earth below him tremble, and although it was the oscillators roaring to life, it felt as though the world itself shared Hux’s hunger for ultimate power.

 _Victory is ours._ _Once Naboo’s sun is depleted, their system will be nothing but frozen rocks.  And Coruscant will fall soon after. Our Imperial Kingdom should have always been on Starkiller. No one would dare think ill of the New Empire while our Imperial Fortress travels the galaxy monitoring its peace. Peace is only won wholly by fear. Fear that we will achieve in just a few short hours._

Hux felt alive. Every part of him flooded with dark energy that sustained him, satiated him, sharpened him. He was now the emperor he was always meant to be. This transformation would not have been achieved without the demise of Lothal. If Mitaka could have just tasted a portion of what Hux felt now, he would have understood. He would not have run away.

 _Like a coward,_ he heard the voices spat within his head.

An unexpected pang in his chest interrupted the cool flow of energy swirling within him.

Hux blinked for several moments, his head...clearing? He looked around and found himself in the grand amphitheater. Yes, of course, he was there, but…

_Where is everyone else?_

Datoo was in the control room preparing to absorb the Nabooian sun. A skeleton crew of stormtroopers walked the surface near the base entrance itself, but aside from that...

There should have been legions of stormtroopers witnessing this historic moment. So, why did he find himself alone? Something was amiss. The world felt still, as if time held its breath waiting for a guillotine to drop. Hux touched his neck idly.

_What am I missing?_

_We are missing nothing._

The darkness smothered the anguish lingering in his chest and suddenly the world make sense again.

_Focus...this is our moment._

“My lord,” a voice sounded, nearly lost in the icy winds.

Hux turned his head briefly to see Colonel Kaplan standing there, shivering beneath his grey overcoat, square jaw chattering. Odd considering Hux did not feel the cold at all…

“We just received word that a fleet of unidentified ships is heading from the Naboo system towards Starkiller Base.”

“The Resistance.” Of course they would come. He knew Naboo was infested with the impudent parasites.

Still...that nagging feeling resurfaced. It was more than just the lack of personnel outside the base. Something pulled at him. Upwards. Outwards he looked to the stars, his eyes unfocused, his mind searching blindly…He ignored the Dark Side which thrashed within his core, urging to focus on the imminent destruction of Naboo and not on such trivial matters as a few missing stormtroopers.

_Missing stormtroopers...missing…_

Hux blinked.

He whirled to Kaplan. “Where is your general? Why are _you_ delivering this news?”

“I…” Kaplan paled. “General Datoo said he was needed elsewhere. That he had to make preparations.”

“Preparations?” Hux bellowed, grabbing Kaplan by the front of his uniform pulling him close. “For what?”

“An E-e-emergency evac.”

Hux’s eyes widened. Ship engines roared high above him. In the distance, a star destroyer emerged sluggishly from the base hanger, followed by a dozen cargo ships.

A cold realization flooded Hux’s veins.

“Colonel,” he said, carefully, “when were the first Resistance ships spotted?”

”M-moments ago, my lord.”

Hux felt the fury quake within him.

“And when did Datoo order the evacuation?”

Kaplan’s face fell, as though only now realizing what Hux was asking. “This...morning sir...0900.”

_Hours ago..._

The pieces slowly fell into place, and they created a picture that Hux did not want to acknowledge.

_Datoo betrayed me. Someone tipped him off of the impending attack._

_And you know who else betrayed us..._ The Viper hissed.

It all made sense. The tug in the back of his mind. His need to gaze upon the stars. The energy that called to him.

Hux’s heart hammered in his chest.

_He’s out there. He is coming back…and he’s bringing the Resistance with him._

Hux looked to the sky and reached out with the Force.

He found the warm, gentle grey aura immediately, surrounded by the clutter of aggressive red and orange souls of Resistance scum aboard a rickety Mon Calamari starship.

Hux opened his eyes.

“Phel…” he uttered quietly.

“Colonel,” Hux said, rounding on Kaplan, “gather everyone who has not left. Keep them _here._ Unleash every TIE division. Arm every trooper we have left. We shall swat these pesky bloodflies before they have a chance to bite.”

“Yessir,” Kaplan clicked his heels and turned.

“And Colonel,” he said, stopping Kaplan in his tracks, “there is an MC80 class starship out there. Do not touch that ship. Allow them to land.”

“But sir-”

Hux flashed a dangerous look at the man. Kaplan wilted beneath his gaze. “Yes, of course, my lord,” Kaplan bowed and hurried back to the base.

Hux looked up to the stars, a faint ache threatening to overtake his chest.

_Phel, come back to me…_

The ache did not last, as, in the distance, the lights of the Resistance fleet appeared, sobering Hux’s thoughts, reminding him of the betrayal Mitaka committed against his Emperor.

 _Yes…_ he thought, the darkness gathering around him like a protective shell, _come back to us, Lieutenant...let us see what you can do to stop the might of Emperor Hux._

\-----

The persistent barrage of blaster fire twanged in the distance. Stormtroopers shouted orders through voice comms, and the uncivilized accents of rebel scum shouted back. An explosion erupted several hundred yards away. Black smoke plumed over the red glow of fire lighting up the night sky. A night sky rapidly brought on by the Naboo System’s dying sun.

A band of five stormtroopers followed close to Hux’s heel. Occasionally they fired at lone Resistance fighters that tried their luck at assassinating the Emperor, who walked unperturbed through the snow. They chattered on comms and gave reports to Hux on the direction of the hot zones, in hopes of steering their Emperor to a safe location.  
Hux ignored their directions. He was not looking for safety. He was not looking for escape.

He was looking for the man who betrayed him.

Every explosion that sounded on the base, every body of a stormtrooper he passed, was on that traitor’s head.

A tempest roared within Hux’s core. His eyes burned with hatred. His body thrummed with raw energy as billions of Nabooians cried out in terror as they witnessed their Sun die before their eyes.

 _Nothing can stop us._ Hux thought. _This puny Lieutenant dares defy his Emperor. It is time he sees what happens when he challenges the very Dark Side itself._

Hux felt the sharp presence of Mitaka mere seconds before the man appeared before him, bursting from around a tall snowy cairn, looking behind him as if being chased, though no one was behind him. When the Lieutenant whipped his head back he screeched to a halt, coming within a few feet of the Emperor.

Mitaka wore the clothes befitting a traitor. Filthy rags. A wrinkled white shirt and frayed brown pants. His hair was unkempt and his eyes were wild and red-rimmed. His cheeks flushed at the sight of Hux.

Hux felt his body burn for a moment. Blind rage acted for him and he shot a hand out towards Mitaka.

“You,” he snarled.

Mitaka froze in place. Hux expected those round dark eyes to widen, that deep silky voice to break into a whimper. Instead, Mitaka clenched his fists and narrowed his gaze. “Emperor,” he said, coldly. “You have lost.”

Hux faltered for a moment. A strange clarity overtaking him. The Viper thrashed within him in protest, screaming at him to focus.

And for the moment, he ignored the Viper’s bidding.

“Why, Phel,” Hux asked, his voice breaking. “Why are you doing this?”

Mitaka’s mouth fell agape. “After everything you have done, you’re asking _why_ ? Bren, _look around you._ Look at what you’ve done. You destroyed my planet over a _rumor_ . You are about to destroy an entire system, killing billions for the sins of hundreds. And I know you are preparing to destroy Coruscant, the very epicenter of the galaxy. And you wonder why I am doing this? I am saving the galaxy from _you._ ”

Hux tightened his grip, floating Mitaka closer to him. The Lieutenant did not struggle and maintained a stony resolve.

“Everything I have done was for us,” Hux said, lip curling in a barely contained snarl. “I have sacrificed _everything_ to keep you safe. If this means killing billions to save trillions I will do it every time.”

“You are delusional, Bren,” Mitaka said, his voice etched with sadness despite his fierce constitution. “You are destroying the galaxy you claim to protect.”

“And you are dooming the galaxy to failure by destroying the very weapon that will keep the galaxy together,” Hux shot back, sweeping a hand around. As if on cue, several explosions erupted, some of them within the base.

“Stop acting like you care about the galaxy,” Mitaka snapped, struggling against the unseen Force as though ready to fight Hux with his bare hands. “You care about nothing except more power. Bren is dead,” he spat, tears streaming down his enraged face. “And all that remains is the Dark Side’s puppet.”

The Viper lashed out and with it, Hux sliced his hand through the air. Mitaka went flying to the side, slamming hard against the cairn wall. He landed with a dull crunch against the snow.

Hux loomed over him, waiting for the Lieutenant’s resolve to break, for that grey aura to shrink away from the might of the Emperor. Instead, the aura crackled with white energy. It flared and flashed as Mitaka rose to his feet, wiping the blood from his nose, licking at his split lip.

“Kneel before your Emperor,” Hux snarled, his white-gloved fist rising and slowly clenching.

Mitaka’s neck stiffened as the Force slipped around it like a noose. And yet he remained on his feet. “You are not the Emperor. You are a tyrant. My Emperor died the moment Arkanis fell. And _you_ killed him.”

Hux stepped in close. The ribbons of the Force tightened around Mitaka’s neck. Hux scoured the traitor’s aura for fear...for submission. And still found nothing. The grey aura remained boisterous, a thunderous cloud of defiance.

“Kneel,” Hux said again. “This is your last warning…”

The aura began to slow. The clouds quieted. Hux arched an eyebrow. For a moment the defiance faded away and though the aura did not seem to lose its luster, it deflated slightly.

“Bren,” Mitaka said, his eyes glittering with tears.

Hux...loosened his grip.

“Show me,” Mitaka whispered in a raspy voice, “there is no monster behind those eyes.”

Hux stood still for a long moment.

The air around them grew quiet.

The Force shrieked for this man’s blood.

And Hux hesitated.

“I…” Hux dropped his hand from Mitaka’s neck. “I cannot. It is too late.” Hux raised an arm, signaling his stormtroopers. “Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka, you are hereby marked as a traitor of the galaxy. It is so ordered that you are to be executed by firing squad as befitting a man of your station and rank.”

The stormtroopers surrounded Mitaka, dragging him back to the rock wall.

Bindings clasped over Mitaka’s wrists and he did not struggle. He was shoved against the rock wall and he did not protest. The stormtroopers raised their blasters and he did not blink.

“T-turn around, sir,” one of the stormtroopers said. Protocol for death by firing squad called for a blindfold of which no one had.

Mitaka ignored the touch of consideration by the trooper. Instead, he continued to look at Hux, unblinking.

“Bren, if you’re still in there, just know that I love you and I always wi-”

The blaster shots rang through the air. A crisp, final noise.

A dull thud followed.

The raging inferno that burned so purely within Hux extinguished.

Cold shock overtook his senses.

The clarity of a traitor’s betrayal no longer felt so clear. Hux...Bren...felt the utter and complete loss of his husband.

He looked at the shell that was once his beloved Mitaka.

“Phel?”

Hux fell to his knees. Memories sliced at Hux’s composure, peeling away all the self-assuredness of his Core.

_Mitaka’s eyes glitter with happy tears on their wedding day. “I love you, Bren…”_

A series of explosions tore through Starkiller Base. Several hundred yards away, the ground split and geysers of fire shot from the cracked earth.

“My lord, we have to get you out of here,” one of the stormtroopers said.

Hux barely heard him.

_“You’ve never tried bantha? Come on...one bite! One!” Mitaka giggles as he wiggles the fork at Hux who, surprisingly finds himself laughing too. It feels good to laugh. It feels good that this sweet, beautiful man can make him laugh when no one else could._

“Sir! Starkiller is lost. We have to evacuate.” Another trooper cried, the ground splintering beneath them.

_“Bren, I can’t wait to grow old with you.”_

_“Preposterous,” Hux says with a sly smile. “Men of our stature do not do something so ordinary as to ‘grow old.’ We mature, like civilized noblemen.”_

_Mitaka wrinkles his nose and laughs. “Fine, I can’t wait to_ mature _with you.” He kisses Hux loudly on the cheek, grinning as Hux scoffs at the sloppy affection._

Hux heard the troopers heavy footfalls flee into the night, leaving the Emperor alone. Another string of explosions sounded deep within the planet. Starkiller was dying.

It no longer mattered. Hux’s world was already dead.

Footsteps crunched in the snow towards Hux.

The Emperor remained on his knees.

_“Show me there is no monster behind those eyes…”_

The Force bubbled within him, screaming at him to get up. Hux did nothing, instead he continued to gaze at the crumpled heap that was once his husband until a pair of boots blocked his view.

“Emperor.” Datoo’s voice was eerily calm.

“General.” Hux slowly raised his head to meet the barrel of Datoo’s blaster.

“Are you ready, sir?” The general’s words seemed almost...sympathetic.

“Promise me you will work to repair all that I have broken,” Hux said, lifting his eyes past the blaster to meet the eyes of the new Leader of the Galaxy. “Promise me you will make things right.”

“The First Order will be as it once was,” Datoo said. “We will prevail. We always do.”

Hux dropped his gaze and closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

The blaster fired. A sharp pain exploded through his heart.

Then darkness. A blissful darkness that seemed like an eternity and no time at all.

\-----

The world was grey. Time seemed to be slower here. Starkiller still existed, though the explosions took their time pluming in the distance. Smoke rolled lazily through the air. Blaster fire eased their way into the chests of stormtroopers and rebels alike.

Hux felt...light. Like the weight of life had been lifted from his soul.

He also felt hollow. The darkness that had filled him had all but extinguished.

He stared dully at the body at his feet. He did not recognize his own face and the anguish and fury frozen on his face. Those eyes were sunken in, cheeks drawn, a red stain spreading across the white of his uniform like a blooming rose. He looked down at his own chest and found that he still wore that same white uniform, and watch the blood spread across the fabric as well, despite seeing no wound.

How did this happen? How had he allow to let things crumble so completely beneath him?

He had been a brilliant general. He could have been an even better Emperor. He was going to unite the galaxy. Instead…

He looked to the sky. Starkiller was losing power, the Nabooian Sun was regaining its strength. He had nearly killed an entire system for what?

_What have I done? What legacy have I left behind now?_

“I am so sorry, sir.”

He looked around, searching for whomever spoke to him.

Instead, he found General Datoo, kneeling on the ground in front of another body.

Even in death, Hux felt the shadow of a heart ache at the sight of Mitaka’s body. His head was tilted towards him, eyes closed forever, lips slightly parted and the faintest rosiness on his cheeks gave the impression he was sleeping. But the red on his uniform told another story. Far more red than Hux’s stained body.

“I am sorry I was too late,” Datoo said as he gathered Mitaka in his arms. “I am sorry I was not strong enough to stop him myself.”

“You did all that you could.”

Hux whipped his head towards the new voice. A painfully familiar voice, deep and gentle, barely heard over the soft white noise of this veiled world.

Mitaka stood alone in the distance. Wisps of light continuously poured from Mitaka’s back like ethereal wings. He was dressed in a loose-fitting grey shirt and pants, his feet bare in the snow. His hair was neatly combed as always. There was no trace of blood on him, his clothes unsoiled unlike Hux whose chest felt wet and sticky.  

His eyes were focused on Datoo who held the body in his arms, whispering confessions and asking for forgiveness through an endless stream of tears.

A shuttle landed not far away, and a pair of officers joined Datoo. They placed a comforting hand on his shoulders and coaxed him to his feet. They ushered him to the shuttle, Mitaka’s body cradled in his arms.

No one came for Hux’s body.

The moment the shuttle door sealed shut, the apparition of Mitaka walked deeper into the forest. The air around him shimmered. He was fading. Hux was running out of time.

 _No! I will not lose him again_.

“Ph-”

A hand clamped over Hux’s mouth. Hellish heat spread through Hux’s body at the touch. He struggled to free himself, but his muscles would not cooperate. His arms were forced to their sides, his back taut and his feet lifted slightly off the ground through no will of his own.

The acrid stench of smoke filled his nose and he gagged behind the hand.

An arm snaked around his waist and pulled him close against the infernal creature.

Hux could do nothing, but watch his love wander farther away from him. He screamed desperately behind the hand that squeezed his face in a vice grip.

“Hush, my pet,” the voice whispering in his ear was silken like the lining of a coffin. “What do you say to the eyes that have endured -what was it? Yes: ‘ _Unimaginable pain and have suffered fathomless love?_ ’”

Hux fell still. The words sounded familiar and prophetic not so long ago. The night Arkanis fell. The images that had poured from him when his yellow eyes looked upon Mitaka’s warm brown orbs for the first time.

_Eyes that are destined to be closed by the hand of his lover._

_Eyes that weep for the future and lament the past._

The hand loosened. His lips were free.

And he did not call out.

Soundlessly, the spectral Mitaka traveled deeper into the forest of dead trees. Each step conjured more shimmering light until he was consumed by it. With a series of flickers, he disappeared entirely.

Hux did not turning around to face the demon. He did not need to. Kylo’s clawed feet crunched loudly on the snow around him, as though circling its prey.

The demon was no longer wearing his loincloth. This time he was dressed in the robes Hux remembered him in. The familiar sight triggered an unexpected pang in in his chest, until he saw the charred horns jutting from the knight’s head, reminding himself of who he was dealing with.

“Why are you here, demon?”

“Is it not obvious?” Kylo asked, tilting his head with a sly sneer. “You are dead. I’ve come to take you home.”

Hux chuffed despite the chill tingling his spine. “I am not yours to take. Unless you have forgotten, I have won our little bet. My soul is free from you.”

“Yes, you won and you achieved everything you could have hoped for. Limitless power, the love of another, the control of the galaxy. Oh yes,” Kylo chuckled looking around the slowly decaying planet around them. “You have won it all I see.”

Hux bristled. “Then I will ask again, why are you here?”

“Because regardless of our deal, you are still Hellbound, my dear emperor. And I claimed the honor to be your,” Kylo licked his lips slowly, “guide.”

Ice clutched at Hux’s insides.

_This is not right. I chose the terms of the bet myself. I was careful. Kylo is an idiot child. He did not outthink me._

Kylo hissed a laugh, a forked tongue flickering from his mouth. “Why do you think I was so eager to take on this bet, Hux? Did you truly believe your little bargain saved you from Hell itself?” Kylo slinked closer to him now, a red-tipped claw grazed Hux’s lip. “It succeeded in ensuring I had no claim over your soul, but you were damned the moment your lips touched mine.”

Hux jerked his head away, lifting a defiant chin. “You lie,” he spat. “Another demon trick.”

“Hux,” Kylo said, the concerned tone bubbling with mockery. “Do you honestly think that Heaven, an existence that thrives in the Light, would accept someone so thoroughly tainted by the Dark? You are going to Hell. And I am not the only demon who has been clamouring to collect the soul of the great Emperor Hux, the Sun King, the Killer of Worlds.”

Kylo laughed, his voice a melody echoed by a chorus of voices, unseen sounds that would have made Hux’s blood curdle had it still pumped in his veins.

Hux’s mind reeled. The prospect of Hell was horrifying in itself, but something far more devastating was the fact that Kylo Ren _bested_ him.

Kylo Ren, the irresponsible man-child, the impudent spoiled knight, the rash scoundrel, _he_ bested the greatest military strategist the galaxy had ever seen.

“It is not possible,” Hux said.

Kylo ran a hand through Hux’s hair, his claws threatening to scratch his scalp at every pass. “Oh, Hux. If only there was a way to ease your descent.” Kylo’s grin sickened Hux. He could do nothing but just stand there, the demon playing with his red locks, leering at his damnation.

 _Other demons are waiting for me..._ Dread clenched at his insides. _What do they have in store? What will become of me?_

“There is _one_ way I could save you from the horrors that await you.” The demon said, slithering an arm around his waist, drawing him into a close embrace. Hux did not resist.

“Surrender yourself to me. Freely. I swear to you that I will keep you safe from all other entities, living and dead.” There was an earnestness in those eyes, and...something else. “Let me do this for you.” A glimmer of something familiar.

_“Ren, where the hell are you going?”_

_Kylo grips his lightsaber tighter and stands in the doorframe leading out to the snowy landscape of Starkiller Base. “I am going to finish this once and for all.”_

_“Don’t be absurd. The scavenger and traitor outnumber you and you are injured.” Hux pounds messages on the datapad to every personnel he can find to launch counter attacks against the Resistance interlopers. More messages roll in faster than he can respond. “Please,” he says, face still in his datapad. “Let me find troopers to aid you.”_

_Kylo growls. “I don’t need it.”_

_Hux’s composure snaps. He flings the datapad away and marches up to Kylo, grabbing his face in his gloved hand and pulling him close. “Do not go alone. It will be the death of you.”_

_“What do you care?” Kylo spits. “If I die out there it will be one less thing for you to-”_

_Hux smashes his lips hard against Kylo’s, shutting him up. He expects to be flung back by the Force. Instead, Kylo makes a startled sound, then a gentle one. He kisses back hungrily, awkwardly as Hux had always pictured he would._

_Hux pulls away and stares hard into those wild dark eyes. “Kylo...please. Let me do this for you.”_

_Kylo walks out into the snowy night without another word._

Hux looked into those eyes now. They were still wild, they were still maelstroms of conflicted emotion, but they were also oppressed under a layer of demonic control.

 _This is a trick. He plays on my feelings for the Kylo I knew._ And then he thinks with an odd twitch of thrill. _I could take my chance. There are those who wish to tear me apart? It is no different than the real world. However many there are that wish to tear my soul apart, there are sure to be others that would follow me. An army of souls under my command..._

Kylo’s eye twitched and Hux wondered if he could hear his thoughts.

“There is something else,” the demon said, quickly. “They say that a mortal soul owned by a demon can, say...redeem, itself, in time. There is a chance that the mortal may eventually find the Light and be taken to heaven.”

Hux tried not to react, but his mind whirred with possibilities. _A chance for redemption...a chance to be with Phel again._

“I accept.”

The eager glimmer in Kylo’s eye edged on Hux’s nerves. “You surrender?”

“I give you my soul.”

Kylo pressed Hux closer, his free hand gliding along his jaw to his chin, tipping his head up to his.

“Seal the deal, and let it be done.”

Hux grabbed Kylo’s hair and pulled him into a hard kiss. He shoved his tongue deep into the demon’s wet mouth, feeling it scrape against those needle-like fangs. He bit down on Kylo’s snaking forked-tongue as well. Kylo moaned his approval.

And reflexively, so did Hux.

The grey veil of the world melted around them as they kissed. Soon the cool winter air turned thick and humid.

Blood trickled down the sides of Hux’s lips, which Kylo lapped up greedily.

The winter landscape exploded in fire and charred earth.

Hux swirled his tongue around Kylo’s, tasting metal and spice and something sweet. He wanted more. He needed more. And when he began to lose himself he did not fight. He fell. Downward and deeper into the inferno. Piece by piece he was torn apart, new parts taking their place. Hux felt weakness replaced by strength, and control replaced with chaos. He was changing and he did not care.

There, engulfed in flames, teeth scraped against flesh, claws cut muscle, and bones were broken and mended and shaped to Kylo’s will and Hux’s need. All the while Hux moaned for more, clawing and begging for pain and pleasure that only this demon could give him.

And dimly, he cared not that he was being torn asunder and put back together. So long as the demon that destroyed him was Kylo Ren.

\-----

**Additional Artwork:**

After Fester read the first draft of this chapter, she drew this. It's entitled: "Why"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hugs you* Hello again! Welcome back! Now, if this chapter effected you like it did Fester and I, let me at least offer this to you. We were so bummed creating this chapter that Fester ended up drawing a beautiful Snow Globe picture and I wrote a drabble to go with it.  
> We humbly offer this as a token of thanks [The Snow Globe](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7576204)  
> Stay tuned for the thrilling Epilogue that will tie Memento Mori into our Hitaka/Kylux sequel to be released this Fall!


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Excerpt:  
> “Phel!” he screamed, pounding at the ceiling, clouds slowly obscuring his vision. “Phel, please hear me!”  
> If Mitaka could hear him, he gave no indication and turned slowly away from Hux. Desperate tears poured from Hux’s face as he slammed his mutated fist against the glass, scratching desperately at the barrier between Heaven and Hell with no avail.  
> When he no longer had the strength, Hux hung his head, resigning to press his clawed hand flat against the ceiling.  
> “I cannot let him win,” Hux swore to the deaf ears of the unattainable angel. “I will free myself from these chains, I promise you. And I swear, on all of my love, on everything that I am and have been, I will find a way to be with you again,” Hux squeezed his eyes shut, hot tears flowing freely now. “I will find a way...Phel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Epilogue is our bridge between Memento Mori and our new Hitaka series coming this Fall: The Edge of Paradise. We hope you enjoy and that this will bring you some closure as well as excite you for the next series!
> 
> Thank you all for reading, your encouragement and your wonderful comments!
> 
> Follow us on tumblr!  
> Writer, Co-Creator: [White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist, Co-Creator: [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 

 

“What have you done to me?” Hux asked, staring down at hands he no longer recognized.

He extended his new long fingers, hardened into sharp claws and charred black.  The blackened skin extended only to his wrists which dissolved into smooth ashen skin. He traced a claw along his ghastly arm, wincing as he nicked himself, only to watch the wound heal immediately.

“I have made you better.” Kylo’s voice echoed in his mind.

Hux moved to stand, only then noticing the protrusions along his thighs, bones jutting out like briar thorns. He touched them and felt ripples of sensations tingle through his legs.

“What am I?” he snarled. He looked around for Kylo. Stalactites hung like viper fangs along a ceiling of glistening black glass. Black ichor dripped from the jagged rocks into small pools near Hux’s feet. As he backed away he heard the ground creak beneath him as if standing on thin ice. Beneath the surface, hellfire awaited. Black clouds billowed and churned, giving way to a maelstrom of red lightning and storms of ash and fire.

“You are what you were always meant to be, Hux,” Kylo said, gliding into view. The ground did not crack beneath his feet, and as he brushed by Hux there was a coolness in the air around him.

“Ren, what am I?” he demanded again.

“What are you? You are mine. Your soul is mine and my protection is yours. That was our agreement...”

Though Kylo’s lips moved his voice echoed within Hux’s head painfully. Hux clutched his head. “Get out of my-”

Hux froze.

His clawed fingers gripped coarse bone on either side of his head. Rough and segmented, these...horns...curved along Hux’s head, ending in sharp tips.

“Kylo,” Hux said, his fury rising in him. “What. Am. I?”

“You are a demon, Hux. You are my demon. And only mine.”

“No.” Hux staggered forward, his head still swimming. “This was not our agreement, Ren. You told me my mortal soul could achieve redemption.”

Kylo remained grounded, meeting Hux’s murderous glare with casual indifference. “I promised you nothing, _emperor,_ ” he sneered, “I merely stated that mortals have been able to redeem themselves and be sent to Heaven. Why in Hell’s name would I want you to ever leave? No, it is best you stay with me, where you are protected. And for that I made you a demon. A _strong_ demon I might add. You should be thanking me. In fact,” a feral smile crept along Kylo’s lips, “you should be on your knees thanking me.”

Hux’s limbs grew heavy, his muscles weakening. He faltered, but held his balance. “No.”

The yellow in Kylo’s eyes flashed. “Kneel before your lord,” Kylo bellowed, the words ringing in Hux’s ears long after they echoed in the caverns.

“I will _never_ kneel before you,” Hux growled. His clawed hand sliced through the air, catching Kylo in the cheek, leaving long gashes in their wake. “You have taken everything from me. Because of you I have nothing left!”

Kylo did not fight the second slash either, allowing Hux to tear through his chest, black ichor flowing slowly from the wounds.

Before landing a third strike,, Hux hesitated. The gashes along the demon’s cheek and chest came together slowly, repairing themselves. With a frustrated roar, Hux raised his clawed hand again.

Kylo caught Hux’s wrist in his hand. His grip was a merciless vice, immoveable no matter how hard Hux struggled to be free. With his free hand Kylo grabbed Hux by the throat and slammed him hard against a stone wall, the very caverns trembling at the impact. Hux growled and fought, his right arm clawing futilely at Kylo’s arm, the flesh healing itself faster than Hux could injure it.

Kylo pulled Hux back and slammed him hard against the wall a second time, yanking Hux’s left arm over his head, and gripping his throat tightly enough to constrict his movement, but not so tightly as to strangle him. With a resistant snarl, Hux relented his struggle.

“Let me explain to you what I mean when I say I own your soul, Hux,” Kylo said, his voice edging on impatience, but keeping a civilized tone. “I _own_ you. If I tell you to kneel, you will kneel before me, as all do in Hell. You see, I am not just a higher demon in Hell.” A wicked smile split Kylo’s face. “I _am_ Hell. I am Lord and Emperor. I am the Inferno and the Ash. You, Hux, are in a position other souls would _dream_ of having. I can give you more than an eternity of servitude, Hux. You will be my General. You will command legions of demons in my war against Heaven. With your mind and my power, we will be unstoppable. Think of it. All you ever wanted was power, and I am _handing_ it to you.”

Hux’s glare never wavered. Ren could offer him the throne of Hell itself and it made no difference.

It was Ren who poisoned his mind. It was because of Ren that everything spiraled so far out of control. And above all it was because of Ren that Phel was dead.

Hux would happily suffer all the nightmares of Hell if it meant Phel could live the life he was meant to have, happy and free from Hux and Kylo and the Dark Side.

_But that is not in my power. I cannot undo the sins I have committed. And now, Ren has ripped away my one chance to reunite with my husband by turning me into this...monstrosity._

“I care nothing for power, demon. I care nothing for your war. I will not serve you.”

“This is your last chance, Hux,” Kylo said, and this time the concern on his face seemed eerily genuine. Those yellow eyes dimmed to a familiar caramel hue for just an instant as though Kylo, _his_ Kylo, was speaking to him. “Join me, join us. I will give you everything in my power if it means you will lead us to utter victory.”

Hux spat in Kylo’s face and laughed. “And what could you possibly do to me if I refuse? You have taken everything from me. Will you torture me? Tear me apart and sew me together for all eternity? Do it, it is nothing compared to what you have made me do already.”

“Oh Hux,” Kylo said, tilting his head to the side. “That simply isn’t true.”

The demon lord’s clawed fingers pierced into the skin of Hux’s pinned wrist.

Hux roared in pain. He thrashed and twisted to no avail against Kylo’s iron grip. In horror he watched Kylo’s claws sink deeper, drawing red and black from the puncture wounds. Blood and ichor dripped down his arm in thin, controlled lines, spreading out across his arm like a widow’s web.

With a satisfied smirk, Kylo released Hux and backed away. Hux moved to charge the damned demon, but searing pain sang through his arm like white fire. With a low growl, he sank to his knees, gripping his arm. He watched helplessly as the external veins spread to his shoulder, glowing with a vile, black energy.

Hux could not escape the pain; it moved beyond his skin, beyond his nerves, and before long he could no longer feel the claws of his free hand scraping uselessly at his own skin. The pain was overridden by the unbearable agony of the infernal veins.

“It’s okay,” Kylo said, a soft sneer spreading across his lips. “The pain makes you stronger, general.”

Hux snarled in response, fangs bared, eyes flaring with defiance despite the sweat pouring from his face and the tears of pain streaking down his cheeks.

_I will endure this. And when I survive I will kill you for what you have done to me._

“Oh, I’m sure you believe that now,” Kylo said and snapped his fingers.

The external veins seared into Hux’s arm, burning past flesh and muscle, rooting themselves to Hux’s very bones. When the veins began to pulsate, Hux nearly lost consciousness.

He hunched forward, letting out a pained growl, his tortured arm held tightly against his chest, the other slamming a fist hard against the glassy surface as he fought hard to stay lucid.

His skin stretched beyond its means. Gray bones shifted into jagged spines coated with thick black ichor that hardened into slick flesh that glistened like the body of a vile arachnid.

When the blinding agony ceased, Hux was left gulping for air.

He raised his head, fanged maw frothing, body trembling, and the power...there was a new power within his Core.

Hux rose to his feet, staring at the blackened wet flesh and exposed gray bone of his new arm. It pulsated with power, shadows swirling around it like ravens circling a gravestone.

Something skittered around his core. It felt different from the Viper. It was not an unpredictable coiled spring eager to be unleashed. This felt...patient, controlled rage. It would wait until Hux was ready to unleash its fury onto those he wished, but until then, it would spin its web. It would lend its threads of manipulation to Hux’s fingertips. And with them he could control legions.

He looked to Kylo who merely stood there, wearing a smug grin with gleaming fangs.

“Do you feel it, Hux?” Kylo said, stepping towards him. Hux noticed for the first time since he awoke in Hell the black serpentine energy whipping around Kylo. The shadowy vipers struck viciously at Hux, held back only by Ren’s will.

_How did I not see them before? They have always been there._

And then he realized, looking down at his deformed arm he knew…

“I told you I could grant you unlimited power, Hux. And I meant it. With the power of the Dark Side, your _own_ power, you will have control of all the demon’s in-”

Hux’s deformed claws shot towards Kylo. Scarlet spider webs burst from his fingertips, wrapping around Kylo’s throat and wrists.

They evaporated the moment they touched the demon’s skin.

Kylo merely chuckled. “You will have control over all of the demons in our kingdom, but not over your Lord.” Kylo stepped forward and fearlessly took the tortured arm in his hands, stroking the perverse flesh and gliding his claws over the jagged bone. “You are beautiful this way, Hux. You are everything I could have ever wanted.” He stroked Hux’s cheek. “Now...kneel.”

The refusal stuck in Hux’s throat and he allowed his Lord to stroke his face just a while longer.

_My lord..._

Hux pressed his face against Kylo’s palm, the infernal heat comforting against his ashen skin. He looked up at Kylo, at the Force surrounding him, so tightly in his control. Then Hux looked beyond him, seeing an endless terrain of this Hellish kingdom.

 _He said I would have control over the demons in_ our _kingdom. Our kingdom…_

“Hux, believe me when I say all that I give you is for the greater good. Your power will not be wasted, your _genius_ will not be wasted.” Kylo drew Hux close to his mouth, the demon lord’s breath sweet and smoky. Hux licked his lips. “Only I understand your needs, Hux. Only I can love you like this...the true vision of your soul. I did not change you, Hux, I only unleashed what already existed. Now, I order-”

Hux sunk to his knees before Kylo could finish.

He hoped it displayed his willingness to comply.

And he hoped it displayed his gratitude for power.

“Ah, general.” Kylo ran his fingers through Hux’s hair. “My general. We will commit such wonderful chaos together.”

“At your command, my lord,” Hux said, his eyes unblinking. “For the chance of more power I will tear down the holy gates myself.”

Kylo’s eyes gleamed at this. “Of course you will…”

\----

Hux maintained his “fealty” until Kylo had disappeared into Hell once again, leaving his new general to roam their kingdom. When he could no longer sense Kylo’s presence, Hux ran.

Through black mountains and over rivers of fire, he ran.

Through vile, pestilent swamps and forests of pure ice he ran.

All the while he never gave up hope.

_There has to be...something...anything...there!_

Hux found a spiral staircase in the distance winding around a mountain of pure obsidian. It towered high above Hell, leading towards the heavens.   
It looked an impossible climb. Seeds of doubt seeped into his determined mind. He ignored them, knowing it was the power of the mountain itself. He was a demon now, and he knew better than to succumb to hesitation.

And so Hux climbed.

Time had no meaning in Hell.

Hux’s trek to find this staircase was little more than an hour and yet could have taken centuries -  it was impossible to say. As he ascended, mortal souls littered the pathway. Some staggered at a slug’s pace, overcome with exhaustion. Others curled up and wept, overwhelmed by this seemingly endless flight of stairs. Others merely gave up and leapt off the mountain to a suicide they could never achieve.

By the time he reached the mountain peak, Hux found himself alone on a wide mesa of black rock. Mere inches above Hux’s horned head a thick glass ceiling stretched for eternity in every direction. Through a thick film of soot, Hux could make out something churning above. Not like the infernal maelstrom lurking below the first level of Hell, but something light and calm. The clouds did not thunder, they seemed to drift. And occasionally, Hux caught glimpses of white robes.

He pressed a palm against it. He pushed. Nothing happened.

He wiped away what ash he could, peering into a world of gold and teal and the purest white so bright it stung Hux’s demonic eyes. Unable to look away, he watched the angelic figures who moved through Heaven, unaware of the horror that lurked just below their bare feet.

Light shimmered in the distance. A brief shuffle of feet cleared away the clouds. Curious, Hux ventured closer to the commotion above. Two figures knelt, one was a sandy-haired man, his face obscured, but the other…

“Phel!”

Phel wore robes of white, so pure and untouched by darkness it made Hux’s eyes burn to look at them. Tears streamed down Hux’s face as he forced himself to gaze upon the angel’s face. Mitaka’s eyes sparkled in the heavenly light. His smile calm and serene.

With an agonizing ache, Hux realized he could not remember the last time Mitaka had worn such a smile. Mitaka was saying something to the other man. His perfect, small lips moved slowly as though time was a gentle breeze in Heaven rather than the unpredictable tornado of time in Hell.

Then the two angels rose to their feet and Mitaka’s face disappeared from sight.

“No!” Hux bashed his fists against the glass. It made an unsatisfying dull thud.

“Phel!” he screamed, pounding at the ceiling, clouds slowly obscuring his vision. “Phel, please hear me!”

If Mitaka could hear him, he gave no indication and turned slowly away from Hux. Desperate tears poured from Hux’s face as he slammed his mutated fist against the glass, scratching desperately at the barrier between Heaven and Hell with no avail.

When he no longer had the strength, Hux hung his head, resigning to press his clawed hand flat against the ceiling.

“I cannot let him win,” Hux swore to the deaf ears of the unattainable angel. “I will free myself from these chains, I promise you. And I swear, on all of my love, on everything that I am and have been, I will find a way to be with you again,” Hux squeezed his eyes shut, hot tears flowing freely now. “I will find a way...Phel.”

And with that, Hux left the mountain, returning to his king. He pushed away all thoughts of his love to focus on his rise to power as the General of Hell’s army and the right hand of Kylo Ren, the Dark Lord of Hell.

\-----

Mitaka did not recognize his surroundings.

No longer was he surrounded by the chaos of war, nor was he suspended in a gray void. Instead, he found himself bare-footed on a cool glass surface, low clouds billowing around his feet. He lifted his hands and found them clean, his pale skin illuminated. He wore white robes, embroidered with gold filigree that sparkled when he moved.

A massive temple filled the horizon. Ivory minarets with golden domes and teal windows glittered against a golden dawn sky. High walls stretched to eternity on either side of a pair of pearlescent gates. Souls glided past him in similar robes. Humans and aliens alike walked with their eyes drawn to the golden gates as they passed through the bars as though made of air.

The temple did look inviting, but something felt wrong about it all. He squinted against the brilliant, sunless sky and ran his gaze along the glittering temple. His eyes caught the glint of sharp spikes along the top of the walls. Fearsome jagged points also lined the gate itself. Though it did not appear to be a prison for the souls going into the temple of their free will, it definitely gave the impression of a heavily defended fortress.

Peculiar. Who would attack a place such as this?

 _And what place_ is _this?_

“Hello.”

Mitaka shifted his gaze from the deceptively benign gates to a man standing at a respectable distance. Not much taller than Mitaka, the man had a mop of brown hair swept to the side and a trimmed beard with hints of red hair. His blue-gray eyes shone with warmth as did his smile, which was gentle and welcoming. His robes wrapped across his chest like a Jedi robe, accented in gold and teal reflective of the holy temple behind him.

“Mr. Mitaka is it? Or just Dopheld?” the man asked, his accent sounded almost Imperial, but there was something off about it. “I honestly do not meet many new souls so I never know how to address you lot.” His smile was dashing and a sudden ache tugged at Mitaka.

“Just Ph...just Dopheld is fine,” Mitaka said.

“Dopheld, of course.” The man bowed. “I am Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was asked to guide you to our temple and your new home personally.”

Mitaka flinched at the name. Years of academy teaching told of Kenobi and his treachery against the heroes of the Empire. Tales of his battle with Anakin Skywalker and again against Darth Vader were well-recorded, always describing the Jedi as ruthless and manipulative. He stole away Vader’s infant son and trained him to one day kill his own father.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was the bane of all that stood for order and control in the galaxy.

Rather than take the hand extended towards him, Mitaka took a step back. “Kenobi,” he uttered beneath his breath.

Kenobi dropped his hand and straightened. “You are of the First Order. Of course,” his smile never wavered, “I imagine they had some rather flattering stories to tell of me at the academy did they not?”

“They were less than flattering,” Mitaka responded, and though the Jedi did not step forward Mitaka took another step back.

Kenobi held up his hands. “Dopheld, I know that this may all seem like you are walking into a Nexu den, but I assure you, this is a place of Light. You are here because _you_ belong in a place of Light. You belong in a place of peace. After what you have been through, I can only imagine you must distrust a great many things, myself included. However-”

“Where is Bren?” Mitaka said aloud, though the question was more for himself. He whirled around. “Where is he?” Panic rose in his chest. “Is he here?”

“I assure you,” Obi-Wan said, his voice still gentle. “Armitage Brendol Hux is not going to hurt you in this place.”

Mitaka shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. He was tainted by the Dark Side, it wasn’t his fault!  Bren was a good man, he belongs here. I have to find him, I have to make sure he finds the Light!”

Mitaka wandered around, looking at the faces of the other souls walking towards the temple. None of them were familiar. All of them strangers. He was alone.

“Bren!” he shouted. Several souls turned to him, none of them Hux.

“Dopheld,” Kenobi’s face became grave. “I misunderstood you. I am so sorry. Hux is not here. He is in a place far from here.”

Mitaka stopped and whirled around to Kenobi, tears welling in his eyes. “I have to save him,” he sunk to his knees. “Bren,” he wept. “I have to save you.”

When Kenobi approached him, he did not pull away. The Jedi knelt down with Mitaka and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“I will be honest with you, Dopheld, there are not many here that would wish to save Hux even if they could. I, however, understand better than most that _any_ mortal soul is capable of redemption. Anyone can be brought back into the Light. My dearest friend was one of those entities. But Emperor Hux...your Bren...he cannot be saved.”

Mitaka looked up at Kenobi with pleading eyes. “We could try.”

“He is a demon, Dopheld. I am sorry to have to tell you this. Soon after Kylo Ren took him to Hell he was changed beyond anything mortal. He is of Hell now. As I understand, he will be the new general of the army Ren is raising against Heaven.”

Mitaka’s head swam, unable to comprehend what he was hearing.

 _Is it so incomprehensible?_ Mitaka thought. _I saw the look in his eyes when he destroyed Arkanis. I saw the insatiable hunger when he obliterated my homeworld. He cares only for power and under Kylo Ren’s rule he will be limitless.._

_Kylo Ren…_

It made sense. He had been influencing Hux from the beginning, Mitaka was sure of it, playing on Hux’s feelings for him _._ He tricked Hux to become a demon as surely as he tricked him to join the Dark Side.

“I need to see him,” Mitaka said.

“That is not possible.”

“The hell it isn’t!”

The moment Mitaka raised his voice, Mitaka felt the pull of the Light everywhere, singing to him, lulling him to be calm. A euphoria crept into his mind, easing his panic, soothing his anger. He felt a coolness on his back and turned to find a pair of wispy wings composed of shimmering light, the source of the singing.

But he didn't want to be calm. He wanted to hang on to the anger, to the hope that he could save Hux from the damned demon.

“No!” he shouted, clawing at his back. If the wings kept him from Hux then he wanted nothing to do with them.

He grabbed at the streams of light. They felt like thin lace in his fingers. He pulled hard.

Pain seared through his back and he cried out at the shock of just how much it pained him. He pulled again, feeling the wings starting to tear.

“Dopheld, stop!” Kenobi said, his eyes wide in alarm as he grabbed Mitaka’s wrists and pulled them away. “You cannot save him. No one can now. And we need you here, more than you know.”

The pain in Mitaka’s back blazed and his chest ached like a piece of him had been ripped away.

Kenobi wrapped his arms around Mitaka and held him close, rocking him back and forth. It had been a long while since anyone had shown him this amount of kindness, and yet Mitaka took no comfort in it. He did not want comfort. He wanted revenge. He wanted his husband back. He pushed Kenobi away.

“If I have to rip every feather from my back I will,” he cried, pulling away from Kenobi. “I am getting my husband back. Demon or no, I will not let Kylo have him!”

He waited for Kenobi to argue. To shout back at him and tell him what he wanted can never be. Instead, the Jedi’s handsome face deepened with sorrow.

“I am so sorry to have to do this. Truly.”

Before Mitaka could pull away, two of the Jedi’s fingers touched his temple.

The world shifted around Mitaka for a moment.

Everything felt...better. Clearer. Clearer than his mind had been in a long while.

He remembered his name. Dopheld Mitaka. He was a Lieutenant in the First Order under the command of General...no...Emperor Hux. He was executed when the Emperor found out he used the Resistance to destroy Starkiller Base to prevent the destruction of both Naboo and Coruscant.

Mitaka died believing he did the right thing.

“Dopheld?” Kenobi’s face was etched with concern. The Jedi was handsome. Certainly a far cry from the hideous old man plastered over the old Imperial propaganda posters.

Mitaka blushed at the sound of his name on those lips. “Yes?”

_Why are we kneeling on the ground? Why does he look so sad?_

“As I was saying...we need you here in Heaven. We need your help, if you are willing,” Kenobi looked shaken. He did not meet Mitaka’s gaze for very long, as if his eyes were weighed down by guilt.

_Guilt for what? We were discussing Ren turning Hux into a demon and that the old Emperor was now the General in Ren’s grand army._

“Yes, about Hux and Ren’s army of demons,” Mitaka said, arching an eyebrow. “Do they mean to attack this place?”

Kenobi, oddly, sighed in relief. “Yes, Hux and Ren are planning to invade Heaven. We do not know when. We only know it will not be long and we must be prepared. You, my friend, are one of the few here who can assist in helping us know our enemy.”

Mitaka frowned.

He tried to recall the details of his death. He tried to conjure up justification to _not_ help Kenobi and the Light. He remembered being pulled away by troopers. He remembered the cold stare of Emperor Hux as he was shot. He remembered saying...something to Hux but never finishing his last words...whatever they were.

_Why can’t I remember them? They seemed important...unfinished._

“Are you with us, Dopheld? I know this is a difficult decision to make. It is not easy to-”

“I’ll do it,” Mitaka said, drawing himself up. “I will help however I can.”

The worry that lined Kenobi’s face vanished and that dashing smile spread across his bearded cheeks once again. Another ache swelled within Mitaka, painful and uncomfortable, but somehow welcomed.

“Well, I see my charming ways are not rusty even in Heaven!” Kenobi winked, standing up and extending a hand to Mitaka.

“Welcome to Heaven, Dopheld Mitaka. I do believe we’ve needed an angel like you for a long time.”

Mitaka took Kenobi’s hand and found it warm and soft. When Kenobi pulled him to his feet, his fingers lingered on Kenobi’s palm for a second longer before dropping them. “I am happy to assist, Master Kenobi.”

“Ben,” Kenobi said, his eyes glittering. “You can call me Ben.”

“Alright, Ben,” Mitaka said, his heart panging hard against his chest.

“Lead the way!” he said to Kenobi with a reassuring smile despite the persistent pang in his chest.

Obi-wan turned and walked towards the temple. Mitaka followed closely behind until he heard a faint voice, low and familiar and...beneath him.

_...on all of my love, on everything that I am and have been..._

Mitaka knew the voice, though he could not remember why. The voice brought heartache and happiness and the kind of sorrow Mitaka could suffocate beneath if he let himself.

The young angel clutched his chest.

A clawed hand slammed hard against the floor.

Mitaka took a step back and looked around. No one else saw this hand pushing against the glassy ground.

Slowly, Mitaka knelt down. He reached out to the tortured looking appendage. It needed something. It needed help.

Mitaka pressed his palm over the glass. A faint warmth struggled to surface, but the coolness of the glass floor prevailed.

The voice was clearer now.

_I will find a way to be with you again._

Whatever the creature was, Mitaka hoped it would find whatever it was looking for. He pulled away and stood up to turn towards the great temple.

_I will find a way...Phel._

Mitaka froze and looked back. The tortured appendage had vanished.

A single word popped into Mitaka’s mind.

A word that had no meaning to him. Perhaps a place or a creature or a name. Whatever it was, when the word left Mitaka’s lips, a painful, inexplicable ache followed.

“Bren…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On behalf of FesteringSilence and myself thank you so much for reading Memento Mori. This has been such an amazing experience and I am so lucky to be able to collaborate with Fester on this fic. We are also so lucky to have received encouragement throughout this Faust AU experience! I hope you enjoyed our Epilogue and feel free to leave comments!
> 
> Stay tuned for The Edge of Paradise soon! <3


	9. The Edge of Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sequel to Memento Mori is here: The Edge of Paradise!

Thank you everyone for reading Memento Mori! As promised here is the sequel: [The Edge of Paradise](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9037094/chapters/20576588)! We hope you enjoy it!

Here is the new concept art for Demon!Hux by FesteringSilence!

**Author's Note:**

> Follow us on tumblr!  
> Writer, Co-Creator: White-Rainbowff [White-Rainbowff](http://white-rainbowff.tumblr.com/)  
> Artist, Co-Creator: FesteringSilence [FesteringSilence](http://festeringsilence.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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